Wright M G
Vegetable and Ornamental Plant Institute, Agricultural Research Council, Private Bag, 7607, Elsenburg, South Africa.
Oecologia. 1994 Sep;99(3-4):397-400. doi: 10.1007/BF00627755.
Extent of pre-dispersal seed destruction by insects and seed survival were measured for variousProtea species (Proteaceae) and related to seed-set, variation in seed-set, the percentage of barren infructescences and infructescence age. The hypothesis that low and variable seed-set would act as a defence mechanism against insect seed predators was tested. Results indicated that seed survival and variation in seed-set were highly positively correlated, while seed survival and seed-set were negatively correlated. Variation in seed-set was identified as the most important determinant of seed survival for the range ofProtea species studied.
对多种山龙眼属植物（山龙眼科）的种子在散布前被昆虫破坏的程度和种子存活率进行了测量，并将其与结实率、结实率的变化、无果穗的百分比以及果穗年龄相关联。检验了结实率低且变化不定会作为一种抵御昆虫种子捕食者的防御机制这一假设。结果表明，种子存活率与结实率的变化高度正相关，而种子存活率与结实率呈负相关。在所研究的山龙眼属植物范围内，结实率的变化被确定为种子存活率的最重要决定因素。
