The relationships between the number of seeds in the cones of Abies alba Mill. and their damage by spermatophagous insects

Abstract

A study was conducted on the relationships between the total number of seeds in cones of Abies alba Mill. and the number of seeds that were viable, infertile, infested with the larvae of Megastigmus suspectus Borr. or damaged by Resseliella piceae Seitn. The seeds were obtained from cones collected in southern Poland in the Gorce National Park in both partial and strict reserves during 1996–1998. A total of 54,958 seeds extracted from 217 cones were used in the study. The data obtained were subjected to statistical analysis. Spearman rank correlation coefficient was computed. A correlation was found between the total number of seeds and each of the groups mentioned above except seeds infested with M. suspectus. An appropriate test was also used to compare the proportions of each of the groups. It was found that the proportions differ from year to year, and for the different sites, except the proportion of viable seeds. No correlation was found between the numbers of seeds infested with M. suspectus and the number of seeds damaged by R. piceae.