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© 2012. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.

Abstract

Early germination of white oaks is widely viewed as an evolutionary strategy to escape rodent predation; yet, the mechanism by which this is accomplished is poorly understood. We report that chestnut oak Quercus montana (CO) and white oak Q. alba (WO) (from North America), and oriental cork oak Q. variabilis (OO) and Mongolian oak Q. mongolica (MO) (from Asia) can escape predation and successfully establish from only taproots. During germination in autumn, cotyledonary petioles of acorns of CO and WO elongate and push the plumule out of the cotyledons, whereas OO and MO extend only the hypocotyls and retain the plumule within the cotyledons. Experiments showed that the pruned taproots (>6 cm) of CO and WO acorns containing the plumule successfully germinated and survived, and the pruned taproots (≥12 cm) of OO and MO acorns without the plumule successfully regenerated along with the detached acorns, thus producing two seedlings. We argue that these two distinct regeneration morphologies reflect alternative strategies for escaping seed predation.

Details

Title
Alternative strategies of seed predator escape by early-germinating oaks in Asia and North America
Author
Yi, Xianfeng 1 ; Yang, Yueqin 2 ; Curtis, Rachel 3 ; Bartlow, Andrew W 3 ; Agosta, Salvatore J 3 ; Steele, Michael A 3 

 College of Agriculture, Henan University of Science and Technology, Luoyang 471003, China; State Key Laboratory of Integrated Pest Management, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; Department of Biology, Wilkes University, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania 18766 
 College of Agriculture, Henan University of Science and Technology, Luoyang 471003, China 
 Department of Biology, Wilkes University, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania 18766 
Section
Original Research
Publication year
2012
Publication date
Mar 2012
Publisher
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
e-ISSN
20457758
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
3067221614
Copyright
© 2012. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.