Germination Response of Russian Wildrye to Variations in Seed Mass at Fluctuating Temperatures

Limbach, W. E.; Call, Christopher A.

doi:10.2307/4002595

Cited by 6 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 13 publications

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“…For example, we show that germination is not a central limitation to grass seedling establishment. Much of the rangeland seed ecology literature focuses on germination characteristics of different species and populations (e.g., Young and Evans 1977;Haferkamp et al 1995;Limbach and Call 1996). For grass species, this line of work has focused on the degree days necessary to allow germination and how this differs among species.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Grass Seedling Demography and Sagebrush Steppe Restoration

James

Rinella

Svejcar

2012

Rangeland Ecology & Management

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Seeding is a key management tool for arid rangeland. In these systems, however, seeded species often fail to establish. A recent study in Wyoming big sagebrush steppe suggested that over 90% of seeded native grass individuals die before seedlings emerged. This current study examines the timing and rate of seed germination, seedling emergence, and seedling death related to this demographic bottleneck. We seeded monocultures of two native perennial bunchgrasses, Pseudoroegenaria spicata (Pursh)Á. Löve and Elymus elymoides (Raf.) Swezey, and one introduced bunchgrass, Agropyron desertorum (Fisch. ex Link) Schult., in 2007, 2008, and 2009 and tracked sown seed and seedling fate. Across the study years and species we found that germination was rapid and high, with species obtaining 50% germination by December, less than 2 mo after planting. Emergence of germinated seed did not occur until late February for A. desertorum and March for the two native grasses. In 2007 the majority of emergence and death was constrained to several weeks, whereas in 2008 and 2009 emergence and death was distributed across several months. The timing of seedling emergence did not influence survival probability or midday plant water potential (probability of exceedance , 0.05). Survival probabilities once seedlings emerged were greater for native species (0.71) than A. desertorum (0.51) in 2 of the 3 study yr (probability of exceedance. 0.98). The early germination of grasses following fall seeding, and the long 2-to 3-mo period that germinated grass seed remain in the soil before emerging, support the hypothesis that seedling recruitment might be limited largely by ecological processes and conditions during winter or early spring (such as soil freeze-thaw events, seed pathogens, or physical crusts). Delaying seeding to early winter or spring and other management tools that mitigate these factors driving this bottleneck might greatly improve restoration outcomes in these systems. Resumen Las resiembras son una herramienta clave de manejo para pastizales á ridos. En estos sistemas, sin embargo, las especies sembradas a menudo no se establecen. En un estudio reciente en un pastizal de Artemisia en Wyoming se sugiere que má s del 90% de los individuos sembrados de pastos nativos mueren antes que la plántula germine. Este estudio examina laépoca y tasa de germinación de las semillas, la aparición de la plá ntula, y la muerte de plá ntula relacionadas con el cuello de botella demográ fico. Se sembraron monocultivos de dos especies nativas de pastos amacollados, Pseudoroegenaria spicata (Pursh)Á. Löve y Elymus elymoides (Raf.) Swezey, y también un pasto amacollado introducido, Agropyron desertorum (Fisch. ex Link) Schult., durante 2007, 2008, y 2009 y se le dio seguimiento a las semillas sembradas así como el destino de las plántulas. A través de los años de estudio y especies se vio que la germinación fue rá pida y alta, con la obtención de la germinación del 50% en diciembre, menos de 2 meses después de la siembra de especies. La aparición de sem...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Grass Seedling Demography and Sagebrush Steppe Restoration

James

Rinella

Svejcar

2012

Rangeland Ecology & Management

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Proposed process for rapidly customizable widgets for online news articles

Farooque

Hall

Davlin

et al. 2017

2017 Systems and Information Engineering Design Symposium (SIEDS)

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Seeds of future past: climate change and the thermal memory of plant reproductive traits

2018

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Plant persistence and migration in face of climate change depends on successful reproduction by seed, a central aspect of plant life that drives population dynamics, community assembly and species distributions. Plant reproduction by seed is a chain of physiological processes, the rates of which are a function of temperature, and can be modelled using thermal time models. Importantly, while seed reproduction responds to its instantaneous thermal environment, there is also evidence of phenotypic plasticity in response to the thermal history experienced by the plant's recent ancestors, by the reproducing plant since seedling establishment, and by its seeds both before and after their release. This phenotypic plasticity enables a thermal memory of plant reproduction, which allows individuals to acclimatise to their surroundings. This review synthesises current knowledge on the thermal memory of plant reproduction by seed, and highlights its importance for modelling approaches based on physiological thermal time. We performed a comprehensive search in the Web of Science and analysed 533 relevant articles, of which 81 provided material for a meta-analysis of thermal memory in reproductive functional traits based on the effect size Zr. The articles encompassed the topics of seed development, seed yield (mass and number), seed dormancy (physiological, morphological and physical), germination, and seedling establishment. The results of the meta-analysis provide evidence for a thermal memory of seed yield, physiological dormancy and germination. Seed mass and physiological dormancy appear to be the central hubs of this memory. We argue for integrating thermal memory into a predictive framework based on physiological time modelling. This will provide a quantitative assessment of plant reproduction, a complex system that integrates past and present thermal inputs to achieve successful reproduction in changing environments. The effects of a warming environment on plant reproduction cannot be reduced to a qualitative interpretation of absolute positives and negatives. Rather, these effects need to be understood in terms of changing rates and thresholds for the physiological process that underlie reproduction by seed.

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Germination Response of Russian Wildrye to Variations in Seed Mass at Fluctuating Temperatures

Cited by 6 publications

References 13 publications

Grass Seedling Demography and Sagebrush Steppe Restoration

Grass Seedling Demography and Sagebrush Steppe Restoration

Proposed process for rapidly customizable widgets for online news articles

Seeds of future past: climate change and the thermal memory of plant reproductive traits

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