Seed dispersal is a key process in plant spatial dynamics. However, consistently applicable generalizations about dispersal across scales are mostly absent because of the constraints on measuring propagule dispersal distances for many species. Here, we focus on fleshy-fruited taxa, specifically taxa with large fleshy fruits and their dispersers across an entire continental rainforest biome. We ...

Interspecific reproductive barriers are poorly understood, but are central to the biological species concept. The pre-zygotic barriers between red- and green-fruited species in the tomato clade of the genus Solanum provide a model to better understand these barriers in plants. Compatibility usually follows the SI x SC rule: pollen from self-compatible (SC) red-fruited species is rejected on pis...

This study examined how forest edges, fruit display size, and fruit colour influenced rates of seed dispersal in an endemic, bird-dispersed, New Zealand mistletoe species, Alepis flavida. To examine rates of seed dispersal, fruit removal rates were compared between plants growing on forest edges and in forest interior, and also between two morphs of plants with different coloured fruits. Two as...

primary bud necrosis (pbn) in grapevine is a physiological disorder that leads to death of fruitful buds and yield loss. the aim of this study was to determine the changes in soluble sugars and starch and their relationship to the incidence of the primary bud necrosis in askari grapevine. experiment was conducted in a vineyard that the vines were 15 years old, with a head system, vines spaced 2...

Y OUNG et al. (1994) recently found that a putative transposable element (Lytl) is present at high abundance in the genomes of individuals sampled from a group of red-fruited species of Lycopersicon, and at a much lower abundance in green-fruited species of this genus. Similar or somewhat lower abundances were found in Solanum species believed to be closely related to Lycopersicon, and even low...

Citation: Muñoz MC, Schaefer HM, Böhning-Gaese K, Neuschulz EL and Schleuning M (2017) Phylogenetic and Functional Diversity of Fleshy-Fruited Plants Are Positively Associated with Seedling Diversity in a Tropical Montane Forest. Front. Ecol. Evol. 5:93. doi: 10.3389/fevo.2017.00093 Phylogenetic and Functional Diversity of Fleshy-Fruited Plants Are Positively Associated with Seedling Diversity ...

Eight wild tomato species are native to western South America and one to the Galapagos Islands. Different classifications of tomatoes have been based on morphological or biological criteria. Our primary goal was to examine the phylogenetic relationships of all nine wild tomato species and closely related outgroups, with a concentration on the most widespread and variable tomato species Solanum ...

Frugivorous birds are involved in the distribution of fleshy-fruited plants. In a temperate forest in northern Europe, we investigated how fruit-eating birds and habitat variation affect the local distribution of these plants and what the consequences are to the species composition of the fruit-bearing plant community. We subdivided the forest into 25 /25 quadrates and mapped the distribution o...