Lower dormancy with rapid germination is an important strategy for seeds in an arid zone with unpredictable rainfall.

ABSTRACT: Seed germination traits are key drivers of population dynamics, yet they are under-represented in community ecology studies, which have predominately focussed on adult plant and seed morphological traits. We studied the seed traits and germination strategy of eight woody plant species to investigate regeneration strategies in the arid zone of eastern Australia. To cope with stochastic and minimal rainfall, we predict that arid seeds will either have rapid germination across a wide range of temperatures, improved germination under cooler temperatures, or dormancy and/or longevity traits to delay or stagger germination across time. To understand how temperature affects germination responses, seeds of eight keystone arid species were germinated under laboratory conditions, and under three diu

SUBMITTER: Duncan C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6736279 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature