Abstract
Abstract. In studies on the reproduction and germination of species with indehiscent fruits containing a single seed, it is often assumed that all fruits that reach maturity contain a seed capable of generating a new plant. This is not always the case, and failing to take this into account can lead to erroneous conclusions regarding the factors affecting reproduction or germination in plants. The research team illustrates this issue by analysing the effects of temperature, soil water potential and light exposure on the germination of Salvia rosmarinus fruits from four different populations, which vary in the proportion of empty fruits. When considering all fruits, we detected a negative effect of water potential in three of the four populations but no effect of temperature. However, when considering only the fruits with seeds, we detected a negative effect of water potential in all populations, as well as a positive response to increased temperature in three of them. In the temperature and light experiment, we observed that darkness reduced germination in three of the four populations when using all the fruits, but, when using only the fruits with seeds, we observed this negative effect in only one population. Despite this greater consistency of results across populations, differences persisted between populations regarding the effect of various factors on germination. These differences appear to be more a consequence of the reduced number of replicates remaining after removing empty fruits from the analyses than of any possible local adaptation of the populations. All these inconsistencies and incoherences found in this study highlight the danger of drawing conclusions from experiments and observations that do not account for the presence of seedless fruits in the samples.
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Claims 8
Claim · model-written summary
With all fruits, water potential had a negative effect on germination in three of four populations.
- Taxon
- Salvia rosmarinus
Salvia rosmarinuse0 - Organ / stage
- all fruitse1
- Treatment
- water potentiale1
- Outcome
- germinatione0
- Direction
- negative effecte1
- Qualifier
- in three of the four populationse1
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The research team illustrates this issue by analysing the effects of temperature, soil water potential and light exposure on the germination of Salvia rosmarinus fruits from four different populations, which vary in the proportion of empty fruits”
e1“When considering all fruits, we detected a negative effect of water potential in three of the four populations but no effect of temperature”
Claim · model-written summary
With all fruits, temperature had no effect on germination.
- Taxon
- Salvia rosmarinusSalvia rosmarinuse0
- Organ / stage
- all fruitse1
- Treatment
- temperaturee1
- Outcome
- germinatione0
- Direction
- no effecte1
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The research team illustrates this issue by analysing the effects of temperature, soil water potential and light exposure on the germination of Salvia rosmarinus fruits from four different populations, which vary in the proportion of empty fruits”
e1“When considering all fruits, we detected a negative effect of water potential in three of the four populations but no effect of temperature”
Claim · model-written summary
With fruits that contain seeds only, water potential had a negative effect on germination in all populations.
- Taxon
- Salvia rosmarinusSalvia rosmarinuse0
- Organ / stage
- fruits with seedse2
- Treatment
- water potentiale2
- Outcome
- germinatione0
- Direction
- negative effecte2
- Qualifier
- in all populationse2
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The research team illustrates this issue by analysing the effects of temperature, soil water potential and light exposure on the germination of Salvia rosmarinus fruits from four different populations, which vary in the proportion of empty fruits”
e2“However, when considering only the fruits with seeds, we detected a negative effect of water potential in all populations, as well as a positive response to increased temperature in three of them”
Claim · model-written summary
With fruits that contain seeds only, increased temperature had a positive response on germination in three populations.
- Taxon
- Salvia rosmarinusSalvia rosmarinuse0
- Organ / stage
- fruits with seedse2
- Treatment
- increased temperaturee2
- Outcome
- germinatione0
- Direction
- positive responsee2
- Qualifier
- in three of theme2
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The research team illustrates this issue by analysing the effects of temperature, soil water potential and light exposure on the germination of Salvia rosmarinus fruits from four different populations, which vary in the proportion of empty fruits”
e2“However, when considering only the fruits with seeds, we detected a negative effect of water potential in all populations, as well as a positive response to increased temperature in three of them”
Claim · model-written summary
With all fruits, darkness reduced germination in three of four populations.
- Taxon
- Salvia rosmarinusSalvia rosmarinuse0
- Organ / stage
- all the fruitse3
- Treatment
- darknesse3
- Outcome
- germinatione3
- Direction
- reducede3
- Qualifier
- in three of the four populationse3
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The research team illustrates this issue by analysing the effects of temperature, soil water potential and light exposure on the germination of Salvia rosmarinus fruits from four different populations, which vary in the proportion of empty fruits”
e3“In the temperature and light experiment, we observed that darkness reduced germination in three of the four populations when using all the fruits, but, when using only the fruits with seeds, we observed this negative effect in only one population”
Claim · model-written summary
With fruits that contain seeds only, darkness had a negative effect on germination in only one population.
- Taxon
- Salvia rosmarinusSalvia rosmarinuse0
- Organ / stage
- fruits with seedse3
- Treatment
- darknesse3
- Outcome
- germinatione3
- Direction
- negative effecte3
- Qualifier
- in only one populatione3
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The research team illustrates this issue by analysing the effects of temperature, soil water potential and light exposure on the germination of Salvia rosmarinus fruits from four different populations, which vary in the proportion of empty fruits”
e3“In the temperature and light experiment, we observed that darkness reduced germination in three of the four populations when using all the fruits, but, when using only the fruits with seeds, we observed this negative effect in only one population”
Claim · model-written summary
The differences between populations appear to be a consequence of fewer replicates after removing empty fruits rather than local adaptation.
- Taxon
- Salvia rosmarinusSalvia rosmarinuse0
- Outcome
- differencese4
- Qualifier
- reduced number of replicatese4
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The research team illustrates this issue by analysing the effects of temperature, soil water potential and light exposure on the germination of Salvia rosmarinus fruits from four different populations, which vary in the proportion of empty fruits”
e4“These differences appear to be more a consequence of the reduced number of replicates remaining after removing empty fruits from the analyses than of any possible local adaptation of the populations”
Claim · model-written summary
Differences between populations persisted in the effect of various factors on germination.
- Taxon
- Salvia rosmarinusSalvia rosmarinuse0
- Outcome
- differences persisted between populationse5
- Qualifier
- regarding the effect of various factors on germinatione5
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The research team illustrates this issue by analysing the effects of temperature, soil water potential and light exposure on the germination of Salvia rosmarinus fruits from four different populations, which vary in the proportion of empty fruits”
e5“Despite this greater consistency of results across populations, differences persisted between populations regarding the effect of various factors on germination”
The same questions in other papers
light · growth · Salvia rosmarinus (rosemary)Positive and negative results
2 papers in the same direction as this paper · 1 in the opposite direction
- positive
- no effect
- negative
Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.