Valleriani Angelo, Tielbörger Katja
Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces-Theory Division-D-14424 Potsdam, Germany.
Theor Popul Biol. 2006 Aug;70(1):1-9. doi: 10.1016/j.tpb.2006.02.003. Epub 2006 Mar 30.
Dormant seeds in permanent soil seed banks change their germination probability with age, but little is known about the causes of this behavior. Since current adaptive models do not consider the age structure of the seed bank, the sole explanation is that changes in germination probability with age are due to passive accidental factors or to decay of seeds. Here we present a theory, which shows that such changes might be adaptive. In particular, in density-regulated populations, the evolutionarily stable fraction of germinating seeds in each age class increases with age whenever age-dependent mortality of dormant seeds remains constant or increases with age.
永久土壤种子库中的休眠种子，其发芽概率会随种子年龄而变化，但这种行为的成因却鲜为人知。由于当前的适应性模型未考虑种子库的年龄结构，唯一的解释是发芽概率随年龄的变化是由被动偶然因素或种子衰败所致。在此，我们提出一种理论，该理论表明这种变化可能具有适应性。具体而言，在密度调节种群中，只要休眠种子的年龄依赖性死亡率保持不变或随年龄增加，每个年龄组中发芽种子的进化稳定比例就会随年龄增加。
