Fruit and Seed Production: Aspects of Development, Environmental Physiology and Ecology

by Edited by C. Marshall , J. Grace

• ISBN13: 9780521050456
• ISBN10: 0521050456
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-03-03
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Flowering and fruiting are key processes in the biology of higher plants, ensuring the transfer of genetic material from one generation to the next. In addition, as almost all of the worlds agricultural and horticultural industries depend on the production of flowers, fruits and seeds, the study of the reproductive biology of cultivated plants is of fundamental importance to humankind. Surprisingly, therefore, this topic has received relatively little attention from environmental physiologists compared with studies on the growth and development of vegetative structures. This book, based on a meeting held by the Environmental Physiology Group of the Society of Experimental Biology, sets out to correct this deficiency. The topic is given a broad and comprehensive treatment, with chapters covering the onset of flowering through to the development and growth of fruits and seeds, and finally to ecological and evolutionary aspects of fruiting. This volume will therefore serve as a useful introduction to the various aspects of flowering and fruiting and will also provide a thorough general overview of the subject for students and researchers alike.

Table of Contents

Contributors

Preface

Plant reproductive biology: an overview

The environmental control of reproductive development

Pollination and fertilization in higher plants

Embryogenesis

Environmental and internal regulation of fruiting, with particular reference to Cox-s Orange Pippin apple

Fruit growth and sink strength

Control of grain growth and development

The regulation of maternal investment in plants

Ecological and physiological aspects of reproductive allocation

Are the distribution of species determined by failure to set seed?

Edible fruits in a cool climate: the evolution and ecology of endozoochory in the European flora

Index

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