Relationships between seed germination requirements and ecophysiological characteristics aid the recovery of threatened native plant species in Western Australia

Abstract Many western native plant species occur in areas characterized by well-drained soils low in organic matter. Some drought-tolerant native plant species exhibit poor seed germination. It was hypothesized that traditional growing substrates high in organic matter may impede their germination; therefore, stratified seeds of roundleaf buffaloberry (Shepherdia rotundifolia) and silver buffaloberry (Shepherdia argentea) were sown in three substrates differing in organic matter and drainage properties. Seed flats were irrigated twice daily to container capacity, and held on a greenhouse bench for 40 days. Seeds of roundleaf buffaloberry exhibited greatest total germination in a calcined montmorillonite calcined clay substrate (66%); seeds exhibited low germination in a commercial peat-based germination mix (13%) and in a self-prepared, locally popular substrate (22%) that contained sphagnum peat: perlite: calcined clay: sand (2: 2: 1: 1 by vol). Seed germination of silver buffaloberry varied from 42 to 54% and was not different among the three substrates. When substrates are kept consistently moist, a calcined-clay substrate can improve germination of roundleaf buffaloberry, but not silver buffaloberry.

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Pre-Sowing Treatments Improve Germinability of South Texas Native Plant Seeds

Plants ◽

10.3390/plants10112545 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (11) ◽

pp. 2545

Author(s):

Kaitlynn Lavallee ◽

Pushpa Gautam Soti ◽

Hansapani Rodrigo ◽

Rupesh Kariyat ◽

Alexis Racelis

Keyword(s):

Seed Germination ◽

Plant Species ◽

Native Plants ◽

Germination Rate ◽

South Texas ◽

Cold Stratification ◽

Native Plant ◽

Native Plant Species ◽

Plant Seeds ◽

Wide Range

The incorporation of native plant species is central to restoration efforts, but this is often limited by both the availability of seeds and the relatively low viability and germination rates of commercially available seeds. Although pre-sowing treatments are commonly used to improve germination rates of seeds, the efficacy of these treatments is found to vary across species. In this study, we tested how four pre-sow treatments (physical scarification, acid scarification, cold stratification, and aerated hydropriming) affected the viability and seed germination rates of 12 commercially available plant species native to south Texas and commonly used in restoration efforts. Our results show that the viability of the seeds have a wide range, from 78% to 1.25%. Similarly, the total germination rate ranged from 62% to 0%. We found that pre-sowing treatments accelerated the germination rate in 9 of 12 plant species tested, but the effect varied by treatment. Collectively, our results identify various methods to achieve the best germination rates for native plants of south Texas, to help improve restoration efforts across the region.

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Allelopathic effects of the invasive Prosopis juliflora (sw.) Dc. On seed germination of selected Qatari native plant species

QScience Proceedings ◽

10.5339/qproc.2016.qulss.20 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 2016 (4) ◽

pp. 20 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Shazia Bibi ◽

Mohammed H. Abu-Dieyeh

Keyword(s):

Seed Germination ◽

Plant Species ◽

Prosopis Juliflora ◽

Native Plant ◽

Native Plant Species ◽

Allelopathic Effects

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Time since fire and average fire interval are the best predictors of Phytophthora cinnamomi activity in heathlands of south-western Australia

Australian Journal of Botany ◽

10.1071/bt14188 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 62 (7) ◽

pp. 587 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Nicole Moore ◽

Sarah Barrett ◽

Kay Howard ◽

Michael D. Craig ◽

Barbara Bowen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Plant Species ◽

Western Australia ◽

Phytophthora Cinnamomi ◽

Negative Impact ◽

Plant Diseases ◽

Interactive Effects ◽

Management Tool ◽

Ecological Communities ◽

Native Plant ◽

Native Plant Species

Fires are features of ecological communities in much of Australia; however, very little is still known about the potential impact of fire on plant diseases in the natural environment. Phytophthora cinnamomi is an introduced soil-borne plant pathogen with a wide host range, affecting a large proportion of native plant species in Australia and other regions of the world, but its interaction with fire is poorly understood. An investigation of the effects of fire on P. cinnamomi activity was undertaken in the Stirling Range National Park of south-western Australia, where fire is used as a management tool to reduce the negative impact of wildfires and more than 60% of the park is infested with, and 48% of woody plant species are known to be susceptible to, P. cinnamomi. At eight sites confirmed to be infested with P. cinnamomi, the proportion of dead and dying susceptible species was used as a proxy for P. cinnamomi activity. Subset modelling was used to determine the interactive effects of latest fire interval, average fire interval, soil water-holding capacity and pH on P. cinnamomi activity. It was found that the latest and average fire interval were the variables that best explained the variation in the percentage of dead and dying susceptible species among sites, indicating that fire in P. cinnamomi-infested communities has the potential to increase both the severity and extent of disease in native plant communities.

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