VARIACIÓN DEL NÚMERO DE SEMILLAS EN FRUTOS DE 156 ESPECIES LEÑOSAS DEL ECUADOR

Abstract

The functional study seeds traits allows us to increase our knowledge about the morphology and reproductive biology in tropical environments. However, seeds traits in forest plants have been poorly evaluated. The objective of this work was to determine the variation in seeds number per fruit in 156 woody species distributed in different habitats of Ecuador. For that, between five and ten fruits were collected from five individuals per species. The seeds number obtained in the fruits was extracted and quantified and it was related to the fruit type, habit, and species. The results showed that the species present from one to more than 400 seeds per fruit. However, the tendency of 57% of woody species is to produce less than 10 seeds per fruit. This trait showed a greater range of variation in the amount of seeds per fruit between the wet and dry forest species. However, there is not significant differences they were evidenced with the fruit type and species habit.