The influence of variable rainfall frequency on germination and early growth of shade-tolerant dipterocarp seedlings in borneo.

ABSTRACT: Climate change induced alterations to rainfall patterns have the potential to affect the regeneration dynamics of plant species, especially in historically everwet tropical rainforest. Differential species response to infrequent rainfall may influence seed germination and seedling establishment in turn affecting species distributions. We tested the role of watering frequency intervals (from daily to six-day watering) on the germination and the early growth of Dipterocarpaceae seedlings in Borneo. We used seeds that ranged in size from 500 to 20,000 mg in order to test the role of seed mass in mediating the effects of infrequent watering. With frequent rainfall, germination and seedling development traits bore no relationship to seed mass, but all metrics of seedling growth increased with i

SUBMITTER: O'Brien MJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3722165 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature