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Smoke and mirrors: reply to Fotheringham and Keeley

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 February 2007

Ian T. Baldwin*
Affiliation:
Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Department of Molecular Ecology, Hans-Knöll-Str. 8, Beutenberg Campus, 07745, Jena, Germany
Catherine A. Preston*
Affiliation:
Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Department of Molecular Ecology, Hans-Knöll-Str. 8, Beutenberg Campus, 07745, Jena, Germany
Bernd Krock
Affiliation:
Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Department of Molecular Ecology, Hans-Knöll-Str. 8, Beutenberg Campus, 07745, Jena, Germany
*
*Correspondence: Email: [email protected]
Current address: USDA-APHIS Biotechnology Regulatory Service, 4700 River Road, Unit 147, Riverdale, MD 20737, USA
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Abstract

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In their rebuttal, Fotheringham and Keeley (2005) (F&K, hereafter) assert that misinterpretations of previous research, errors in the presentation of the chemistry of nitrogen oxides and devious presentation of experimental results led to the conclusion of Preston et al. (2004). [These conclusions refute those of Keeley and Fotheringham's publication in Science (Keeley and Fotheringham, 1997).] We disagree and argue that the experimental evidence is consistent with the hypothesis that the ecologically relevant germination signals for the two post-fire annuals, Emmenanthe penduliflora and Nicotiana attenuata, are the specific pyrolysis products of cellulose rather than chemical scarification by nitrogen oxides (Keeley and Fotheringham, 1997).

Type
Letter to the Editor
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2005

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