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Post-dispersal seed anchorage to soil in semiarid plant communities, a test of the hypothesis of Ellner and Shmida

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Abstract

In this paper we test the Ellner and Shmida’s hypothesis that in semiarid environments aridity may select for the lack of seed dispersal mechanisms (atelechory) of many plants, whereas post-dispersal selective forces such as soil erosion, seed predation or limitations to water uptake by seeds may select for structures facilitating seed anchorage to the ground (antitelechory). We analyzed the proportions of species with seed anchorage mechanisms and that of atelechoric species in shrublands colonizing flat areas and hillslopes in two sites differing in climate dryness. Their relation with several soil properties involved in runoff generation, seed–soil contact and water uptake by seeds and with nest density of granivorous ants was also explored. Our results support the hypothesis that in semiarid shrublands the proportion of species with seed anchorage mechanisms increases because of soil erosion but not because of climate dryness. This is the first time that a direct relation between the proportion of species with seed anchorage mechanisms and soil erosion is shown in plant communities; supporting the view that soil erosion shapes species composition in communities.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the Spanish “Plan Nacional de I+D+i” [projects CGL2005-03912 and CGL2009-07262]. We thank Mª Clara Castellanos, Miguel Morales, Jose Pavía and Helene Heyd for their help in the field and to J. Gabriel Segarra for his aid with plant determination. Thanks are also given for support of the whole ‘Llavoratori’ team. Meike Engelbrecht was funded by grants from the Spanish National Research Council [JAEPre-0800758] and the CSIC-Fundación BANCAJA [2007] of Spain. We are also grateful to Christopher Allen for his English revision and to Glenda Wardle and two anonymous reviewers for their suggestions. The National Meteorological Agency of Spain kindly provided the climatic data for the period 1990–2009.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Investigaciones sobre Desertificación—CIDE (CSIC-UV-GV), Carretera Moncada-Náquera, Km. 4.5, 46113, Moncada, Spain

    Patricio García-Fayos, Meike Engelbrecht & Esther Bochet

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  1. Patricio García-Fayos
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  2. Meike Engelbrecht
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  3. Esther Bochet
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Correspondence to Patricio García-Fayos.

Appendix

Appendix

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Table 3 List of the species in the study area with information about seed dispersal, seed anchorage and life-form syndromes
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García-Fayos, P., Engelbrecht, M. & Bochet, E. Post-dispersal seed anchorage to soil in semiarid plant communities, a test of the hypothesis of Ellner and Shmida. Plant Ecol 214, 941–952 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-013-0220-z

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