Influence of underground storage on seed weight of perennial plants in Mongolia

摘要

There are a number of studies on relevance of photosynthetic contribution for seedweight. Here we demonstrate a contribution of plant underground storage on seedweight. We collected 348 seed samples of 230 species, in the forest-steppe, steppe,desert-steppe and desert zones in Mongolia, between 1981 and 2007. All species werecategorized by growth form, fl owering phenology and underground storage. Plantheight was not diff erent among categories of fl owering phenology and undergroundstorage. Seed weight was higher in large storage perennials than in small storagespecies. Correlation between seed weight and plant height was signifi cantly positive insmall storage perennials but it was insignifi cant in large storage perennials. For smallstorage perennials, correlation between seed weight and plant height was found in earlyand continuous fl owering perennials while was absent in late fl owering perennials.For large storage perennials, seed weight and plant height positively correlated inearly fl owering perennials, but those were not correlated and negatively correlatedin continuous and late fl owering perennials, respectively. The results suggest thatearly and continuous fl owering perennials might use photosynthetic production forseed development, more intensive than late fl owering perennials. Also, late fl oweringperennials more strongly use underground storage for seed development.