Aerial seed bank in Artemisia species: how it responds to sand mobility

Abstract

Aerial seed bank has been found in the arid dune ecosystem.

The role of sexual vs. asexual recruitment of <i>Artemisia wudanica</i> in transition zone habitats between inter-dune lowlands and active dunes in Inner Mongolia, China

“…This is because this distribution pattern has been reported to facilitate growth of plant individuals within a patch (Holmgren et al, 1997;Schleicher et al, 2011). Ma et al (2010) indicated that the delay in seed dispersal, and maintenance of high seed viability, after maturation until the end of the windy season and the start of the next growing season is a mechanism which allows the adaptation of the psammophyte A. wudanica to sand mobility. Our results are consistent with the redundancy analysis (RDA) in that the density of surviving seedlings showed a maximum, positive correlation with SM at all study layers, and a negative correlation with WE (Fig.…”

Phylogeny, Seed Trait, and Ecological Correlates of Seed Germination at the Community Level in a Degraded Sandy Grassland

“…Plants inhabiting arid degraded sandy grasslands have developed different strategies for seed germination to respond to the novel environmental pressures via long-term natural selection (Li et al, 2006 ). However, in recent years, many studies have focused on the relationship between seed morphology and vegetation processes (Liu et al, 2007 ; Yan et al, 2009 ; Ma et al, 2010 ; Zhao et al, 2011 ), but the link between the germination and seed traits, ecological factors at community level in this highly disturbed and stressed environment has not been elucidated. Studies of the relationships between seed germination and phylogeny, seed traits, and ecological factors would provide insights into seed germination strategies in unpredictable environments, especially in degraded sandy grasslands.…”

The role of sexual versus asexual recruitment of <i>Artemisia wudanica</i> in transition zone habitats between inter-dune lowlands and active dunes in Inner Mongolia, China

“…This is because this distribution pattern has been reported to facilitate growth of plant individuals within a patch (Holmgren et al, 1997;Schleicher et al, 2011). Ma et al (2010) indicated that the delay in seed dispersal, and maintenance of high seed viability, after maturation until the end of the windy season and the start of the next growing season is a mechanism which allows the adaptation of the psammophyte A. wudanica to sand mobility. Our results are consistent with the redundancy analysis (RDA) in that the density of surviving seedlings showed a maximum, positive correlation with SM at all study layers, and a negative correlation with WE ( Fig.…”