Abstract
:We investigated the effects of seed size and microhabitat on the dynamics of seedling establishment in Olea europaea. We tested the hypothesis that the type of microhabitat suitable for O. europaea recruitment is influenced by microhabitat-specific relationships between seed size and seedling growth rate. To test this hypothesis we conducted field experiments evaluating seedling growth and survival as a function of seed size, microhabitat (determined by presence/absence of scrub cover), and competition (established by means of seedling density gradients). Our results show that, first, seed size was related to seedling size and to differential growth rate. Second, seedling growth rate was negatively correlated with initial seedling size, although this correlation varied among microhabitats and temporally. Third, seedling survival differed between microhabitats and was positively affected by initial seedling size until the end of the summer drought. Finally, the effect of seedling size on survival was partly mediated by its negative relationship with growth rate. However, the combined effect of size and growth on seedling survival varied between microhabitats. We conclude that establishment depended on microhabitats through facilitation and inhibition processes, and that seed size-related growth rate strongly affected seedling fate. It is noteworthy that the effectiveness of the size-correlated growth depended on microhabitat.
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Claims 9
Claim · model-written summary
Seed size was related to seedling size in Olea europaea.
- Taxon
- Olea europaea
Olea europaeae0 - Treatment
- seed sizee1
- Outcome
- seedling sizee1
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“seedling establishment in Olea europaea”
e1“seed size was related to seedling size and to differential growth rate”
Claim · model-written summary
Seed size was related to differential growth rate in Olea europaea seedlings.
- Taxon
- Olea europaeaOlea europaeae0
- Treatment
- seed sizee1
- Outcome
- differential growth ratee1
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“seedling establishment in Olea europaea”
e1“seed size was related to seedling size and to differential growth rate”
Claim · model-written summary
Seedling growth rate was negatively correlated with initial seedling size.
- Taxon
- Olea europaeaOlea europaeae0
- Treatment
- initial seedling sizee2
- Outcome
- seedling growth ratee2
- Direction
- negatively correlatede2
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“seedling establishment in Olea europaea”
e2“seedling growth rate was negatively correlated with initial seedling size”
Claim · model-written summary
Seedling survival differed between microhabitats.
- Taxon
- Olea europaeaOlea europaeae0
- Treatment
- microhabitatse3
- Outcome
- seedling survivale3
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“seedling establishment in Olea europaea”
e3“seedling survival differed between microhabitats”
Claim · model-written summary
Seedling survival was positively affected by initial seedling size until the end of the summer drought.
- Taxon
- Olea europaeaOlea europaeae0
- Treatment
- initial seedling sizee4
- Outcome
- seedling survivale4
- Direction
- positivelye4
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“seedling establishment in Olea europaea”
e4“seedling survival differed between microhabitats and was positively affected by initial seedling size until the end of the summer drought”
Claim · model-written summary
The effect of seedling size on survival was partly mediated by its negative relationship with growth rate.
- Taxon
- Olea europaeaOlea europaeae0
- Treatment
- seedling sizee5
- Outcome
- survivale5
- Qualifier
- partly mediated by its negative relationship with growth ratee5
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“seedling establishment in Olea europaea”
e5“the effect of seedling size on survival was partly mediated by its negative relationship with growth rate”
Claim · model-written summary
The combined effect of size and growth on seedling survival varied between microhabitats.
- Taxon
- Olea europaeaOlea europaeae0
- Treatment
- microhabitatse6
- Outcome
- combined effect of size and growth on seedling survivale6
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“seedling establishment in Olea europaea”
e6“the combined effect of size and growth on seedling survival varied between microhabitats”
Claim · model-written summary
Establishment of Olea europaea depended on microhabitats through facilitation and inhibition processes.
- Taxon
- Olea europaeaOlea europaeae0
- Treatment
- microhabitatse7
- Outcome
- establishmente7
- Qualifier
- facilitation and inhibition processese7
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“seedling establishment in Olea europaea”
e7“establishment depended on microhabitats through facilitation and inhibition processes”
Claim · model-written summary
Seed size-related growth rate strongly affected seedling fate.
- Taxon
- Olea europaeaOlea europaeae0
- Treatment
- seed size-related growth ratee1
- Outcome
- seedling fatee1
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“seedling establishment in Olea europaea”
e1“seed size-related growth rate strongly affected seedling fate”