Effects of precipitation and microorganisms on persistence of buried seeds: a case study of 11 species from the Loess Plateau of China

Chen, Dali; Chen, Xianglai; Jia, Cunzhi; Wang, Yan; Yang, Lingjie; Hu, Xiao Wen

doi:10.1007/s11104-021-04990-1

Cited by 10 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 82 publications

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“…This diversity can potentially promote species coexistence by the storage effect (Chesson, 1994;Facelli et al, 2005) and thereby maintaining a species-rich community that can withstand temporal fluctuations in environmental conditions. On the other hand, it is known that current climatic changes, such as changing temperature and rainfall regimes, can accelerate the decline of seed viability (Chen et al, 2021), compromising the persistence of plant populations dependent on long-lived seed banks (Ooi, 2012) or dry habitats (Basto et al, 2018). Our results from the long-term burial experiment also proved that seeds of some species could survive in the soil much longer than expected from the indirect measurement of seed longevity by the seedling establishment from soil samples.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 62%

Soil Seed Bank Persistence Across Time and Burial Depth in Calcareous Grassland Habitats

Mašková

Poschlod

2022

Front. Plant Sci.

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Seed persistence in the soil is crucial for population dynamics. Interspecific differences in soil seed mortality could be a mechanism that may stimulate species coexistence in herbaceous plant communities. Therefore, understanding the levels and causes of seed persistence is vital for understanding community composition and population dynamics. In this study, we evaluated the burial depth as a significant predictor of the temporal dynamics of soil seed persistence. We suppose that species differ in this temporal dynamics of soil seed persistence according to burial depth. Furthermore, we expected that burial depth would affect soil seed persistence differently concerning the species-specific type of dormancy, light, and fluctuating temperature requirements for germination. Seeds of 28 herbaceous species of calcareous grasslands were buried in the field into depths of 1, 5, and 10 cm under the soil surface. Seed viability was tested by germination and tetrazolium tests several times for three years. Species-specific seed traits—a type of dormancy, light requirements and alternating temperature requirements for germination, and longevity index—were used for disentangling the links behind species-specific differences in soil seed persistence. Our study showed differences in soil seed persistence according to the burial depth at the interspecific level. Generally, the deeper the buried seeds, the longer they stayed viable, but huge differences were found between individual species. Species-specific seed traits seem to be an essential determinant of seed persistence in the soil. Seeds of dormant species survived less and only dormant seeds stayed viable in the soil. Similarly, seeds of species without light or alternating temperature requirements for germination generally remained viable in the soil in smaller numbers. Moreover, seeds of species that require light for germination stayed viable longer in the deeper soil layers. Our results help understand the ecosystem dynamics caused by seed reproduction and highlight the importance of a detailed long-term investigation of soil seed persistence. That is essential for understanding the fundamental ecological processes and could help restore valuable calcareous grassland habitats.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 62%

Soil Seed Bank Persistence Across Time and Burial Depth in Calcareous Grassland Habitats

Mašková

Poschlod

2022

Front. Plant Sci.

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“…These results demonstrate that seed mass is a crucial trait determining the amount of reserves available to establishing seedlings but not to persisting in soil (Vandelook et al ., 2018). Previous studies on the relationships between seed mass and regenerative traits differ drastically among various taxa, habitats and ecological scales, suggesting that the patterns are highly context‐dependent (Csontos & Tamás, 2003; Chen et al ., 2021). For example, almost all studies on germination or emergence last only a few weeks or seasons and would fail to reveal the true percentage of species with long‐persisting and dormant seeds, as our experiments clearly show that seedling emerging from a single population could extend to 23 yr. Finding a strong correlation between seed bank attributes and an easily measurable trait (e.g.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A long‐term experiment reveals no trade‐off between seed persistence and seedling emergence

Chen,

Hu,

Baskin

et al. 2023

New Phytologist

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Summary Information on seed persistence and seedling emergence from the soil seed bank is critical for understanding species coexistence and predicting community dynamics. However, quantifying seed persistence in the soil is challenging; thus, its association with other life‐history traits is poorly known on a broad scale. Using germination phenology for 349 species in a 42‐yr experiment, we quantified the persistence–emergence correlations and their associations with intrinsic regeneration traits using Bayesian phylogenetic multilevel models. We showed no trade‐off between seed persistence and seedling emergence. Physically dormant seeds were more persistent but exhibited lower emergence than nondormant seeds. Monocarpic species had both higher persistence and emergence than polycarpic species. Seed mass posed a marginal proxy for persistence, while emergence almost doubled from the smallest to the largest seeds. This study challenges the traditional assumption and is the first demonstration of noncorrelation between persistence and emergence, probably owing to the complexity of regenerative strategies. Species with short persistence and low emergence would be the most vulnerable for in situ conservation. Our analyses of this unique, long‐term dataset provide a strong incentive for further experimental studies and a rich data resource for future syntheses.

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“…In the reciprocal transplant, it was found that too much or too little precipitation would lead to seed growth with cavitation. Therefore, it is speculated that the precipitation in November may be regarded as a ecological indicator for theOpisthopappus two species (An et al, 2020;Chen et al, 2021;Wang et al, 2010).…”

Section: Landscape Factors Determine Gene Exhchange Pattern Of Opisth...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Landscape characteristics determine the gene exchange pattern of Opisthopappus species in the Taihang Mountains

Zhang¹,

Ye²,

Liu³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Landscape features are effective geographical barriers resulting inpopulation differentiation of plant species. Taihang Mountains in China possess complexly geographical topology and specific landscape characteristics. Two closely related syntopic Opisthopappus species, mainly distribute in different areas of Taihang Mountains, respectively. How the landscape of Taihang Mountains affects the gene exchange between these two species still unclear. Combined SNP data from restriction-site associated DNA sequencing (RAD-seq) and recently developed landscape genetic methods (EEMS, Samβada, LFMM), we conducted a landscape genetic analysis of these two species. It found that the diversity of O. longilobus was higher than that of O. taihangensis, the gene flow was mostly from north to south along Taihang Mountains. However, a general north–south gene exchange barrier between O. longilobus and O. taihangensis was detected. Among the landscape factors of Taihang Mountains, eight was found to be the important ones, including average precipitation in August, October, and November, solar radiation in August, soil PH, built-up land, rain-fed cultivated land, and workability. And these eight factors were closely related to the occurred barriers, indicating that climatic conditions and human activities rather than geographical environment resulted in these barriers. Twenty-nine selected SNPs were identified to be significant correlated with the eight factors, especially average precipitation in November. Thus, the average precipitation in November could be regarded as an ecological indicator for O. longilobus and O. taihangensis. The results revealed the effect of landscape features on two species and the adaption on the landscape environment of Taihang Mountains during the long-term evolution.

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Effects of precipitation and microorganisms on persistence of buried seeds: a case study of 11 species from the Loess Plateau of China

Cited by 10 publications

References 82 publications

Soil Seed Bank Persistence Across Time and Burial Depth in Calcareous Grassland Habitats

Soil Seed Bank Persistence Across Time and Burial Depth in Calcareous Grassland Habitats

A long‐term experiment reveals no trade‐off between seed persistence and seedling emergence

Landscape characteristics determine the gene exchange pattern of Opisthopappus species in the Taihang Mountains

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