Effects of herbivores on seed germination by meta analysis

After Janzen proposed “Double F Hypothesis”, the endozoochorous of herbivores on plant seeds was widely accepted and a lot of related researches have been done. Meanwhile, question of if there is co-evolution between plants and herbivores, and a lots of debates also generated. Researches related to endozoochorous of herbivores on plant seeds were collected and secondary analyzed using meta-analysis method and PIC technology. The results showed that: 1) Responses of seeds to effects of digestive tract was determined by genetic relationships of species. Most plant performed the closer their genetic relationships, the more similar their responses. There are still some plants which have close genetic relationships but no convergence on their responses. 2) Seeds of the same species which were digested by different herbivores had different germination rates. This mainly because different herbivores have different digestive tract structures and internal environments, and then the time what seeds stay in digestive tract is differed. Finally, germination rates of these seeds are varied.