Summary Trait‐based approaches have improved our understanding of plant evolution, community assembly and ecosystem functioning. A major challenge for the upcoming decades is to understand the functions and evolution of early life‐history traits, across levels of organization and ecological strategies. Although a variety of seed traits are critical for dispersal, persistence, germination timing and seedling establishment, only seed mass has been considered systematically. Here we suggest broadening the range of morphological, physiological and biochemical seed traits to add new understanding on plant niches, population dynamics and community assembly. The diversity of seed traits and functions provides an important challenge that will require international collaboration in three areas of research. First, we present a conceptual framework for a seed ecological spectrum that builds upon current understanding of plant niches. We then lay the foundation for a seed‐trait functional network, the establishment of which will underpin and facilitate trait‐based inferences. Finally, we anticipate novel insights and challenges associated with incorporating diverse seed traits into predictive evolutionary ecology, community ecology and applied ecology. If the community invests in standardized seed‐trait collection and the implementation of rigorous databases, major strides can be made at this exciting frontier of functional ecology.

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This chapter covers the types and definitions of soil seed banks; evolution of soil seed reservoirs as affected by seed characteristics (seed density and size), and biotic (including fungi and seed predators) and abiotic (such as soil fertility and water content) factors; the functional role of seed banks in the dynamics of natural communities; and the adaptive traits necessary to build up soil seed banks.

These results underline the functional role of delayed germination and light for survival of seeds in the soil and hence their importance for shaping the first part of the seed decay curve. Our analyses highlight the detection of diurnally fluctuating temperatures as a third mechanism to achieve higher soil seed persistence after burial which interacts strongly with season. We therefore advocate focusing future research on mechanisms that favour soil seed persistence after longer burial times and moving from studies of morphological features to exploration of germination traits such as reaction to diurnally fluctuating temperatures.

The results can be explained in terms of the seed size-seed number trade-off, which suggests that the higher number of smaller seeds is compensated after germination. Soil seed bank persistence estimates correlated to seed production are therefore not useful for studies on population persistence or community diversity. Confusion of soil seed survival and seed production can be avoided by separate use of soil seed abundance and experimental soil seed survival.

Summary Assumptions about the germination ecology of alpine plants are presently based on individual species and local studies. A current challenge is to synthesise, at the global level, the alpine seed ecological spectrum. We performed a meta‐analysis of primary data from laboratory experiments conducted across four continents (excluding the tropics) and 661 species, to estimate the influence of six environmental cues on germination proportion, mean germination time and germination synchrony; accounting for seed morphology (mass, embryo : seed ratio) and phylogeny. Most alpine plants show physiological seed dormancy, a strong need for cold stratification, warm‐cued germination and positive germination responses to light and alternating temperatures. Species restricted to the alpine belt have a higher preference for warm temperatures and a stronger response to cold stratification than species whose distribution extends also below the treeline. Seed mass, embryo size and phylogeny have strong constraining effects on germination responses to the environment. Globally, overwintering and warm temperatures are key drivers of germination in alpine habitats. The interplay between germination physiology and seed morphological traits further reflects pressures to avoid frost or drought stress. Our results indicate the convergence, at the global level, of the seed germination patterns of alpine species.

To cite this version:Fabien Arène, Laurence Affre, Aggeliki Doxa, Arne Saatkamp. Temperature but not moisture response of germination shows phylogenetic constraints while both interact with seed mass and lifespan. Seed Science Research, Cambridge University Press (CUP), 2017, 27 (02), pp.110 -120. AbstractUnderstanding how plant traits interact with climate to determine plant niches is decisive for predicting climate change impacts. While lifespan and seed size modify the importance of germination timing, germination traits such as base temperature and base water potential directly translate climatic conditions into germination timing, impacting performance in later life stages. Yet we do not know how base temperature, base water potential, seed mass, lifespan and climate are related. We tested the relationships between base temperature and base water potential for germination, seed size and lifespan while controlling for bioclimatic regions. We also quantified the phylogenetic signal in germination traits and seed size using Pagel's λ. We used a worldwide data set of germination responses to temperature and moisture, seed size and lifespan of 240 seed plants from 49 families. Both germination temperature and moisture are negatively related to seed size. Annual plants show a negative relation between seed size and base water potential, whereas perennials display a negative relation between base temperature and seed mass. Pagel's λ highlighted the slow evolution of base temperature for germination, comparable to seed mass while base water potential was revealed to be labile. In the future, base water potential and seed mass can be used when moisture niches of plants are to be predicted. Lifespan, seed size and base temperature should be taken into account when analysing thermal limits of species distributions.

International audiencePlant–plant chemical interactions in forests can have a strong impact on the biodiversity and dynamics of these ecosystems, particularly in Mediterranean forests where plants exhibit a high secondar