Seed predation

Abstract

Plants produce seeds for sexual reproduction and to enable the establishment of new individuals beyond parental influence. These seeds are developed inside structures which, regardless of whether they come from an enlarged ovary or whether they present another anatomic origin, are called fruits in ecological literature (see for example, Herrera, 1992). The mission of fruits is to protect seeds and, in some cases, to favor their dispersion. The use of the word seed is also common in a more general sense than the strictly anatomic one, to refer to the fertilized ovule and its associated structures (Harper et al., 1970).