The Role of Age-Structure in the Optimal Germination Fraction of Seeds

Abstract

In this review, we analyze Cohen’s classic 1966 paper, “Optimizing reproduction in a randomly varying environment,” and focus on how subsequent studies have relaxed Cohen’s assumptions regarding age-structure. We do this in two ways, by analyzing studies that relax assumptions of age-structure in either the aging seed or the aging adult plant. Several studies have analyzed annual plants, which can exhibit age-structure due to seeds remaining dormant in the seed bank for one or more years. However, few studies have analyzed perennials with seed dormancy. These plants could have age-structure due to both dormant seeds and the aging plant, and thus could have much more complicated dynamics. Accordingly, here we share ideas and encourage future research in both the theoretical and experimental aspects of this field.