The diversity of fruits and seeds is enormous all over the world, and they play a core role in all aspects of biology including human life. Despite a long history of carpological research, many details of the fruit and seed structure evolution, as well as dispersal mechanisms, seed germination, and ecological consequences of fruit and seed traits, are lacking research attention so far. Until recently, methods based on molecular phylogeny provided an excellent possibility for tracing the evolution of fruits and seeds in different plant groups.
This Research Topic aims to present recent discoveries that will clarify the role of fruit and seed traits as the most stable characteristic for systematics and to reveal the evolutionary trends in their structure in angiosperms and ecological consequences of such changes. This collection also aims to present the "weed syndrome" problem that remains poorly studied. The weed syndrome was not previously studied in reference to the carpological studies, although the fruit and seed characters are relevant for the understanding of this phenomenon.
We welcome original research, review, and perspective on the following scope:
• Fruit and seed structure and its evolution in phylogenetic context
• Comparative carpological research of the plants from different plant communities and ecological niches
• New insights into fruit and seed dispersal
• Counterparts of fruits in gymnosperms
• Recent discovery on aspects of seed germination
Please note that descriptive studies and those defining gene families or descriptive collection of transcripts, proteins, or metabolites, will not be considered for review unless they are expanded and provide mechanistic and/or physiological insights into the biological system or process being studied.
The diversity of fruits and seeds is enormous all over the world, and they play a core role in all aspects of biology including human life. Despite a long history of carpological research, many details of the fruit and seed structure evolution, as well as dispersal mechanisms, seed germination, and ecological consequences of fruit and seed traits, are lacking research attention so far. Until recently, methods based on molecular phylogeny provided an excellent possibility for tracing the evolution of fruits and seeds in different plant groups.
This Research Topic aims to present recent discoveries that will clarify the role of fruit and seed traits as the most stable characteristic for systematics and to reveal the evolutionary trends in their structure in angiosperms and ecological consequences of such changes. This collection also aims to present the "weed syndrome" problem that remains poorly studied. The weed syndrome was not previously studied in reference to the carpological studies, although the fruit and seed characters are relevant for the understanding of this phenomenon.
We welcome original research, review, and perspective on the following scope:
• Fruit and seed structure and its evolution in phylogenetic context
• Comparative carpological research of the plants from different plant communities and ecological niches
• New insights into fruit and seed dispersal
• Counterparts of fruits in gymnosperms
• Recent discovery on aspects of seed germination
Please note that descriptive studies and those defining gene families or descriptive collection of transcripts, proteins, or metabolites, will not be considered for review unless they are expanded and provide mechanistic and/or physiological insights into the biological system or process being studied.