Seeds: Biology, Development and Ecology.

The Eighth International Workshop on Seeds was held in Brisbane, Australia, in May 2005, following the earlier workshops in this series in Jerusalem (1980), Wageningen (1985), Williamsburg (1989), Angers (1992), Reading (1995), Merida (1999) and Salamanca (2002). In the tradition of each of these workshops, the proceedings contain papers presented at the Brisbane Workshop. It was not possible to include all of the 221 papers and posters presented, but the 43 papers included in this volume are representative of the exciting advances being made in all areas of seed biology, ecology and technology. Particularly promising are the contributions of younger scientists using new technologies to investigate seed biology, opening the way for continuing advancement of the field.