Am J Bot. 1998 Jan;85(1):79.
In a greenhouse experiment, seedling survival of two oak species (Quercus rugosa and Q. laurina) was greatly affected by the excision of cotyledons 1 mo after germination, with a greater impact on Q. laurina. The effect of seed size was also significant for both species, with a positive correlation between seed mass and survival and growth. The effect of cotyledon excision on seedling growth persisted throughout the first growing season in Q. rugosa and was not analyzed for Q. laurina due to the low number of seedlings that survived cotyledon excision. Seed size significantly affected seedling height, diameter, leaf area, and biomass at 6 mo. Seed size and cotyledon retention affected the ability of Q. rugosa to recover from herbivory, as both factors had a significant effect on relative growth rates after aerial biomass removal. The results show that seedlings originating from large seeds can better endure loss of cotyledons and aerial biomass and thus are better equipped to confront stress early in their lives.
在一项温室实验中，两种栎属植物（栓皮栎和麻栎）的幼苗存活率在发芽后 1 个月被切除子叶时受到了极大影响，麻栎受到的影响更大。种子大小对这两个物种也有显著影响，种子质量与存活率和生长呈正相关。在栓皮栎中，切除子叶对幼苗生长的影响在整个第一个生长季节都持续存在，而对于麻栎，由于存活下来的幼苗数量较少，因此未对子叶切除进行分析。种子大小在 6 个月时显著影响了幼苗的高度、直径、叶面积和生物量。种子大小和子叶保留影响了栓皮栎从食草动物侵害中恢复的能力，因为这两个因素对去除地上生物量后相对生长率有显著影响。研究结果表明，来自大种子的幼苗可以更好地忍受子叶和地上生物量的损失，因此在生命早期更有能力应对压力。
