Relationship between seed size and plant abundance in an alpine meadow of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

Theoretical and field studies on seed size and plant abundance relationship have been conducted in various communities. However, inconsistent patterns have emerged from these studies, and still little is known about alpine meadows. Here we identified four models and their predictions: the seed size/number trade-off model (SSNTM), the succession model (SM), the spatial competition model (SCM), and the triangle model (TM), in order to assess the relationship between seed size and abundance in alpine meadows, and to elucidate underlying mechanisms. The study site was situated on the eastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau at 3500 m above sea level. From 1999 through 2001, two indices of plant abundance (aboveground biomass and density) were simultaneously measured in 45 quadrates (0.25 m[^2]). Data for 101 plant species (mostly Cyperaceae, Poaceae, Asteraceae, Ranunculaceae and forbs) showed that seed size is like log normal distributed, and it slightly skewed in smaller-sized seeds. The SSNTM, the TM, the SM and the SCM models were not supported in this alpine meadow, and the relationship between seed size and abundance was always positive (although in some samples, the relationship was not significant). The positive correlation between seed size and abundance observed for some grassland communities was also demonstrated in the alpine meadow. It suggests that seed size depends on the plant growth form, but the biomass-density relationship is inconsistent with previous studies. This suggests that the measure of abundance used in these studies is not the only reason for inconsistency of seed size.