Background The development and dispersal of seeds as well as their transition to seedlings
represent perhaps the most critical stages of a plant's life cycle. The endophytic and …

Trait‐based approaches have improved our understanding of plant evolution, community
assembly and ecosystem functioning. A major challenge for the upcoming decades is to …

Analyses of functional traits have become fundamental tools for understanding patterns and
processes in plant community ecology. In this context, regenerative seed traits play an …

Assumptions about the germination ecology of alpine plants are presently based on
individual species and local studies. A current challenge is to synthesise, at the global level …

Despite the disproportionate influence that propagule production, dispersal, seed‐to‐
seedling recruitment and vegetative reproduction can have on plant population and …

Ellenberg indicator values (EIV s) can be used as a numerical system to classify species'
habitat niches and their peak occurrence along gradients. By finding correlations of EIV s …

Seed movement and delayed germination have long been thought to represent alternative
risk‐spreading strategies, but current evidence covers limited scales and yields mixed …

Background Plant seeds have many traits that influence ecological functions, ex situ
conservation, restoration success and their sustainable use. Several seed traits are known …

Reproductive stages of life cycle are important for the explanation of distribution patterns of
plant species at different scales, due to their extreme vulnerability to environmental …

Assembly of plant communities has long been scrutinized through the lens of trait‐based
ecology. Studies generally analyse functional traits related to the vegetative growth, survival …