scholarly journals Polyploidy but Not Range Size Is Associated With Seed and Seedling Traits That Affect Performance of Pomaderris Species

2022 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason C. S. Chan ◽  
Mark K. J. Ooi ◽  
Lydia K. Guja

Ploidy and species range size or threat status have been linked to variation in phenotypic and phenological seed and seedling traits, including seed size, germination rate (speed) and seedling stature. There is surprisingly little known about the ecological outcomes of relationships between ploidy, key plant traits and the drivers of range size. Here we determined whether ploidy and range size in Pomaderris, a genus of shrubs that includes many threatened species, are associated with variation in seed and seedling traits that might limit the regeneration performance of obligate seeders in fire-prone systems. We experimentally quantified seed dormancy and germination processes using fire-related heat treatments and evaluated seedling performance under drought stress. We also examined the association of seed size with other seed and seedling traits. Polyploids had bigger seeds, a faster germination rate and larger and taller seedlings than diploids. There was a lack of any clear relationship between range size and seed or seedling traits. The ploidy effects observed for many traits are likely to be indirect and associated with the underlying seed size differences. These findings indicate that there is a higher potential competitive advantage in polyploid than diploid Pomaderris during regeneration, a critical stage in the post-fire environment. This insight to the regeneration phase may need to be considered when planning and prioritising management of threatened species.

2016 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 317-331 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antoine Gardarin ◽  
Françoise Coste ◽  
Marie-Hélène Wagner ◽  
Carolyne Dürr

AbstractEarly plant establishment through seed germination and seedling emergence is a crucial process that determines seedling number, emergence time distribution and the early growth of seedlings, all of which are affected by soil climate and soil structure. In the current context of climate change, in which increasing the diversity of cultivated species is considered desirable, and new tillage practices are considerably modifying top-soil surface characteristics, we need to improve our ability to model the effects of the environment on plant establishment. Using a trait-based and model-based framework, we aimed to identify general relationships between seed and seedling traits (e.g. seed mass and lipid content, seedling diameter, base temperature) and germination and emergence model parameters (e.g. time to mid-germination, shoot elongation rate) measured for 18 genotypes belonging to 14 species. Relationships were also investigated among model parameters or traits. Germination rates were faster for species with a high base temperature and for species with seed reserves located principally in the embryo (rather than the endosperm or perisperm). During heterotrophic growth, maximal shoot length and elongation rate increased with seed dry mass. The sensitivity of seedlings to soil obstacles was negatively related to shoot diameter. Thus apart from the known effects of seed mass on seedling establishment, we found that seed reserve location, seedling shoot diameter and shape affected germination rate and emergence success. Such generic rules linking plant traits to germination and emergence parameters enhance our understanding of the determinants of environmental effects on plant establishment success.


1996 ◽  
Vol 74 (4) ◽  
pp. 568-572 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Andersson

The present study of the winter annual Crepis tectorum examines the relationship between seed (achene) size and the extent to which seeds resist germination during the year of their production. I carried out two seed burial experiments, one at an outcrop site occupied by a small-seeded population, and another in an experimental garden with soil from the same field site, with seeds representing the local population and a segregating generation of a cross between two other populations. Using logistic regression with data corrected for seed viability, I found an association between small seed size and failure to germinate in the first autumn. The small seed size characterizing many outcrop populations may have evolved as a response to selection for delaying germination in a habitat subject to unpredictable droughts during the growth season. Keywords: Crepis tectorum, germination, seed bank, seed size.


2018 ◽  
pp. 909-917
Author(s):  
Qiang Li ◽  
Jiaqing Zhang ◽  
Jinmei Li ◽  
Yichen Yang ◽  
Minghao Fan

2019 ◽  
Vol 49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fábio Steiner ◽  
Alan Mario Zuffo ◽  
Aécio Busch ◽  
Tiago de Oliveira Sousa ◽  
Tiago Zoz

ABSTRACT Seed size is an important indicator of physiological quality, since it may affect seed germination and seedling growth, especially under stress conditions. This study aimed to investigate the effects of seed size on germination and initial seedling growth, under salinity and water stress conditions. The treatments were arranged in a completely randomized design, in a 3 × 3 factorial scheme: three seed size classes (small, medium and large) and three stress treatments (control, saline or water stress), with four replicates. Water and salt stresses do not reduce the germination rate of medium and large seeds; however, the germination rate of small seeds is reduced under salt stress conditions. Drought stress drastically reduces the shoot growth of seedlings regardless of seed size, whereas root growth is higher in seedlings from medium and large seeds under water stress conditions. Under non-stressful environments, the use of large seeds is preferable, resulting in more vigorous seedlings with a greater dry matter accumulation. Medium-size seeds are more adapted to adverse environmental conditions and, therefore, should be used under conditions of water shortage and salt excess in the soil at sowing time. Seedlings are more tolerant to salinity than to water stress during the germination stage and initial growth under laboratory conditions.


2019 ◽  
Vol 116 (12) ◽  
pp. 5576-5581 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Harrison ◽  
Marina LaForgia

Trait-based approaches are increasingly used to predict ecological consequences of climate change, yet seldom have solid links been established between plant traits and observed climate-driven community changes. Most analyses have focused on aboveground adult plant traits, but in warming and drying climates, root traits may be critical, and seedlings may be the vulnerable stage. Relationships of seedling and root traits to more commonly measured traits and ecological outcomes are poorly known. In an annual grassland where winter drought-induced seedling mortality is driving a long-term decline in native diversity, using a field experiment during the exceptionally dry winter of 2017–2018, we found that seedling mortality was higher and growth of seedlings and adults were lower in unwatered than watered sites. Mortality of unwatered seedlings was higher in species with shorter seedling roots, and also in species with the correlated traits of small seeds, high seedling specific leaf area (SLA), and tall seedlings. Adult traits varied along an axis from short-stature, high SLA and foliar N, and early flowering to the opposite values, and were only weakly correlated with seedling traits and seedling mortality. No evidence was found for adaptive plasticity, such as longer roots or lower SLA in unwatered plants. Among these species, constitutive variation in seedling root length explained most of the variation in survival of a highly vulnerable life stage under winter drought. Selective loss of species with high adult SLA, observed in this community and others under drought stress, may be the byproduct of other correlated traits.


2020 ◽  
Vol 295 (40) ◽  
pp. 13940-13955 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katrina J. Linden ◽  
Judy Callis

In a single vascular plant species, the ubiquitin system consists of thousands of different proteins involved in attaching ubiquitin to substrates, recognizing or processing ubiquitinated proteins, or constituting or regulating the 26S proteasome. The ubiquitin system affects plant health, reproduction, and responses to the environment, processes that impact important agronomic traits. Here we summarize three agronomic traits influenced by ubiquitination: induction of flowering, seed size, and pathogen responses. Specifically, we review how the ubiquitin system affects expression of genes or abundance of proteins important for determining when a plant flowers (focusing on FLOWERING LOCUS C, FRIGIDA, and CONSTANS), highlight some recent studies on how seed size is affected by the ubiquitin system, and discuss how the ubiquitin system affects proteins involved in pathogen or effector recognition with details of recent studies on FLAGELLIN SENSING 2 and SUPPRESSOR OF NPR CONSTITUTIVE 1, respectively, as examples. Finally, we discuss the effects of pathogen-derived proteins on plant host ubiquitin system proteins. Further understanding of the molecular basis of the above processes could identify possible genes for modification or selection for crop improvement.


1979 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
pp. 511-513 ◽  
Author(s):  
ESVET ACIKGOZ ◽  
M. D. RUM-BAUGH

Significant differences among 25 common vetch (Vicia sativa L.) cultivars existed for each of eight seed and seedling traits. Weight of 50 seeds was positively correlated with seedling characteristics but not with time required for emergence. Emergence time was negatively associated with seedling size 14 days after planting. Breeders can select common vetch lines for seedling vigor by selecting for large seed size.


1985 ◽  
Vol 15 (6) ◽  
pp. 1109-1115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank C. Sorensen ◽  
Robert K. Campbell

Different mean seed weights were produced within each of 10 young Douglas-fir trees by leaving some developing cones unbagged and enclosing others in Kraft paper bags for two different durations. On the average, 10 days in the bag increased filled-seed weight by about 1%. Unbagged cones and cones from the 117-day bagging duration were wind pollinated. Seeds from these cones were, therefore, of comparable genetic makeup and were used in further nursery growth tests. To eliminate the effect of germination rate or time, samples of filled seeds from each treatment on each parent tree were sown as germinant seedlings on one date. Cotyledon number was counted and 1st-year epicotyl lengths and 2nd-year total heights were measured on all seedlings. Seedling volumes were estimated by assuming diameters were proportional to heights. On the average, bagging cones for 117 days increased seed weight by 10.7%, 1st-year epicotyl length by 9.1%, and 2-year total height by 4.0%. All differences were statistically significant. Results were compared with other reports of the relations between seed weight and growth and reasons for inconsistencies were discussed. Size differences were projected to later ages with a growth model and practical implications of long-term seed effects on plant size, of increasing seed size through cultural techniques, and of grading seed lots by size were considered.


2004 ◽  
Vol 52 (5) ◽  
pp. 647 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diego E. Gurvich ◽  
Lucas Enrico ◽  
Guillermo Funes ◽  
Marcelo R. Zak

Bidens pilosa L. is a summer annual that shows a particular phenological pattern in the Córdoba mountains, Argentina. Some individuals start flowering 1 month after germination (early type), but most of the population starts flowering 4 months after germination (normal type). The aims of this study were to (1) analyse whether differences in flowering phenology affect seed mass and seed production, and (2) assess whether possible differences in seed traits of the two parental phenological types would affect germinability, germination rate, seedling growth and flowering phenology of offspring under laboratory conditions. The study showed that the numbers of seeds per capitulum and per plant were greater in the normal type than in the early type plants. This can be related to plant height, since in the field, normal-type plants are larger than early type plants. However, early type plants produced heavier seeds than normal-type plants. Germination rate was faster in the early type seeds, but total germination was higher in the normal ones. Seedling growth, in terms of height and the date of first flowering, did not differ between the phenological types of parental seed sources. Our results showed that differences in flowering phenology were associated with seed mass and seed production differences. Seed mass appears to be related to germination characteristics but not to seedling growth nor to flowering phenology of offspring.


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