| General Information: |
| Title: | Seed size and weight of 129 tree species in Japan |
| Identifier: | ERDP-2020-14.1.1 |
| Abstract: |
Information on seed morphology and fruiting phenology related to fitness and reproductive strategy are important for plant ecology and evolution. Although seed morphology is highly variable across years, regions, and mother trees even within the same species, seed mass and size are often reported as averages or ranges for each species in existing databases or picture books. Unfortunately, freely available seed trait data for individual seeds are limited. This paper reports data on morphology (seed length, width, and height) and dry weight of individual seeds from 129 tree species in Japan. It includes data from 79 genera in 44 families collected from various forests located in cool temperate to subtropical regions in Japan, including species not reported in previous databases. We mainly used seeds from the collections of the Forest Tree Gene Bank Program, but new seeds were also collected. If possible, multiple seeds were collected from multiple mother trees of the same species. This paper also reports data of the sampling month and date, which indicates the fruiting season of trees at the sampling site. Through comparing these data to past or future data, we hope that it will aid in understanding the effects of climate change on fruiting phenology.
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| Keywords: |
- seed height
- seed width
- seed length
- Woody species
- dry seed weight
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Involved Parties
| Data Set Owners: |
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Individual: | Megumi Kimura |
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Organization: | Forest Tree Breeding Center, Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute |
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Email Address:
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| Data Set Contacts: |
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Individual: | Megumi KIMURA |
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Organization: | Forest Tree Breeding Center, Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute |
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Email Address:
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| Associated Parties: |
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Individual: | Megumi Kimura |
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Organization: | Forest Tree Breeding Center, Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute |
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Phone:
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Email Address:
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Individual: | Mizuki Inoue |
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Organization: | Department of Biosciences, College of Humanities and Sciences, Nihon University |
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Individual: | Ryoma Kawamura |
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Organization: | Department of Biosciences, College of Humanities and Sciences, Nihon University |
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Address: |
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Individual: | Ryoma Kawamura |
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Address: |
| Laboratory of Forest vegetation, Kyoto Prefectural University, |
| Kyoto Japan |
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Individual: | Misato Koike |
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Organization: | Department of Biosciences, College of Humanities and Sciences, Nihon University |
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Individual: | Ryo Furumoto |
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Organization: | Iriomote Tropical Forest Tree Breeding Technical Garden, Forest Tree Breeding Center, Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute |
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Address: |
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Individual: | Ryo Furumoto |
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Organization: | Forest Tree Breeding Center, Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute |
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Individual: | Buntarou Kusumoto |
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Organization: | Royal Botanic Gardens |
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Address: |
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Individual: | Buntarou Kusumoto |
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Organization: | Faculty of Science, University of the Ryukyus |
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Individual: | Akinori Fuji |
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Organization: | Faculty of Science, University of the Ryukyus |
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Individual: | Yasuhiro Kubota |
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Organization: | Faculty of Science, University of the Ryukyus |
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Individual: | Yasuhiro Kubota |
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Organization: | Tropical Biosphere Research Center, University of the Ryukyus |
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Address: |
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Individual: | Tsutomu Enoki |
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Organization: | Kasuya Research Forest, Kyushu University |
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Address: |
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Data Set Characteristics
| Geographic Region: |
| Geographic Description: | Japan |
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Bounding Coordinates:
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| West: | 123.77 degrees
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| East: | 143.54 degrees
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| North: | 43.25 degrees
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| South: | 24.27 degrees
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Sampling, Processing and Quality Control Methods
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Step by Step Procedures
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| Step 1: |
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Description:
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Sampling design
FTBC-FFPRI collects seed, pollen, or propagules as genetic resources through the Forest Tree Gene Bank program for breeding, improvement of useful species, and conservation of rare species. In this paper, we used the seeds collected in the Forest Tree Gene Bank program and newly collected seeds. Dominant, codominant, and understory tree species were targeted, which included 79 genera in 44 families collected from various natural forests and preservation arboretums located in Hokkaido to Iriomote Island. For species names, we referred to “Ylist (http://ylist.info)” (Yonekura & Kajita 2003-). We included nuts or drupes in this study even though they are fruits because they act as the primary “dispersal unit” in those species. For fruits type, we referred to picture books (Mogi et al 2000a; Mogi et al. 2000b; Mogi et al. 2001; Satake et al. 1989a; Satake et al. 1989b). Ripe fruits/seeds at the point of natural dispersal were collected from each mother tree between 1995 and 2019 from natural forests and preservation arboreta. Basically each mother tree was treated as a unit of collection, but some collection contained seeds from multiple mother trees growing in the same population. In several nut tree, we collected from forest floors or seed traps, and we categorized it as “an unknown number of mother trees.” We also recorded the address of the sampling position (prefecture and city name) and the month of seed collection for each collection.
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| Step 2: |
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Description:
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Laboratory analysis
Fleshy fruits were cleaned by removing the fleshy pulp (e.g., Cerasus sp.) or wing (e.g., Acer sp.). The seed lengths of the three dimensions (we refer to them as seed length, seed width, and seed height for convenience) were measured using a digital caliper for about five seeds per collection. Seed dry weight was determined after drying at 60˚C for 48 h. For seeds that were very small and difficult to weigh, several seeds were weighed together; their weight was categorized as “multi.” In this case, the average value is shown (e.g., Mallotus japonicus). We excluded abnormal seeds in our measurements, such as moldy or shrunken seeds. Based on the cut test performed after measurement, empty seeds were also excluded from the data.
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Data Set Usage Rights
| The complete data set for this abstract published in the Data Paper section of the journal is available in electronic format in Ecological Research Data Paper Archives at http://db.cger.nies.go.jp/JaLTER/ER_DataPapers/archives/2020/ERDP-2020-14. |
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