Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dlnhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T23:10:27.643Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Temporal dynamics of seedling emergence among four fire ephemerals: the interplay of after-ripening and embryo growth with smoke

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 June 2019

Siti N. Hidayati Open the ORCID record for Siti N. Hidayati [Opens in a new window] ,
David J. Merritt Open the ORCID record for David J. Merritt [Opens in a new window] ,
Shane R. Turner Open the ORCID record for Shane R. Turner [Opens in a new window] ,
Kingsley W. Dixon  and
Jeffrey L. Walck Open the ORCID record for Jeffrey L. Walck [Opens in a new window]
Siti N. Hidayati
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN 37132, USA
David J. Merritt
Affiliation:
Kings Park Science, Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, Kings Park, WA 6005, Australia School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia
Shane R. Turner
Affiliation:
Kings Park Science, Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, Kings Park, WA 6005, Australia School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia Department of Environment and Agriculture, Curtin University, Bentley, WA 6102, Australia
Kingsley W. Dixon
Affiliation:
Kings Park Science, Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, Kings Park, WA 6005, Australia School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia Department of Environment and Agriculture, Curtin University, Bentley, WA 6102, Australia
Jeffrey L. Walck*
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN 37132, USA
*
*Author for correspondence: Jeffrey L. Walck, Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The flora of Mediterranean ecosystems contains families with species having fully and under-developed embryos in their seeds. After-ripening for physiological dormancy release and smoke influence germination in many species. We investigated how after-ripening and embryo growth interact with smoke to influence the temporal dynamics of seedling emergence among fire ephemerals. Seeds were placed in the field and under standardized (50% relative humidity, 30°C) laboratory conditions to test the effects of summer conditions on physiological dormancy loss. Germination was tested with water or smoke compounds (smoke water, KAR1) at a simulated autumn/winter temperature (18/7°C). The timing and amount of seedling emergence with smoke was observed for seeds exposed to near-natural conditions. During summer, physiological dormancy was broken in all species, enabling germination at autumn/winter but not summer temperatures; no embryo growth occurred in seeds with under-developed embryos. At the start of the wet season, seedling emergence from seeds with fully developed embryos occurred earlier than from seeds with under-developed embryos. In a non-consistent manner among our study species, smoke and smoke compounds influenced the rate of embryo growth and amount of germination. Effects of smoke were noticeable in terms of number of emergents in the first emergence season. Among ecologically similar species, we have shown (1) that both thermal and embryo traits exclude germination in the summer, (2) how embryo size influences the timing of seedling emergence in autumn–winter, and (3) a reduced requirement for smoke in the second emergence season after a fire with a shift to reliance on seasonal cues for emergence.

Keywords

embryosephemeralsfireKAR1Mediterranean climateseedling emergencesmokesmoke water
Type
Research Paper
Information
Seed Science Research , Volume 29 , Issue 2 , June 2019 , pp. 104 - 114
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Baker, K.S., Steadman, K.J., Plummer, J.A. and Dixon, K.W. (2005) Seed dormancy and germination responses of nine Australian fire ephemerals. Plant and Soil 277, 345–358.Google Scholar
Bart, R.R., Tague, C.L. and Dennison, P.E. (2017) Modeling annual grassland phenology along the central coast of California. Ecosphere 8, e01875.Google Scholar
Barrett, R. and Tay, E.P. (2005) Perth Plants: A Field Guide to the Bushland and Coastal Flora of Kings Park and Bold Park, Perth, Western Australia. Perth, Australia: Botanic Gardens and Parks Authority.Google Scholar
Baskin, C.C. and Baskin, J.M. (2014) Seeds: Ecology, Biogeography, and Evolution of Dormancy and Germination, 2nd edn. San Diego, USA: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Bennett, E.M. (1988) The Bushland Plants of Kings Park, Western Australia. Perth, Australia: Kings Park Board.Google Scholar
Brown, N.A.C. (1993) Promotion of germination of fynbos seeds by plant-derived smoke. New Phytologist 123, 575–583.Google Scholar
Bureau of Meteorology (2009) Climate statistics for Australian locations. Commonwealth of Australia. Available at: http://www.bom.gov.au/ (accessed 10 December 2009).Google Scholar
Carta, A., Hanson, S. and Müller, J.V. (2016) Plant regeneration from seeds responds to phylogenetic relatedness and local adaptation in Mediterranean Romulea (Iridaceae) species. Ecology and Evolution 6, 4166–4178.Google Scholar
Chiwocha, S.D.S., Dixon, K.W., Flematti, G.R., Ghisalberti, E.L., Merritt, D.J., Nelson, D.C., Riseborough, J.M., Smith, S.M. and Stevens, J.C. (2009) Karrikins: a new family of plant growth regulators in smoke. Plant Science 177, 252–256.Google Scholar
Commander, L.E., Merritt, D.J., Rokich, D.P. and Dixon, K.W. (2009) Seed biology of Australian arid zone species: germination of 18 species used for rehabilitation. Journal of Arid Environments 73, 617–625.Google Scholar
Daws, M.I., Davies, J., Pritchard, H.W., Brown, N.A.C. and Van Staden, J. (2007) Butenolide from plant-derived smoke enhances germination and seedling growth of arable weed species. Plant Growth and Regulation 51, 73–82.Google Scholar
Dixon, K.W., Roche, S. and Pate, J.S. (1995) The promotive effects of smoke derived from burnt native vegetation on seed germination of Western Australian plants. Oecologia 101, 185–192.Google Scholar
Flematti, G.R., Ghisalberti, E.L., Dixon, K.W. and Trengove, R.D. (2005) Synthesis of the seed germination stimulant 3-methyl-2H-furo[2,3-c]pyran-2-one. Tetrahedron Letters 46, 5719–5721.Google Scholar
Fox, J. (2015) Applied Regression Analysis and Generalized Linear Models. Los Angeles, USA: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Ghebrehiwot, H.M., Kulkarni, M.G., Kirkman, K.P. and Van Staden, J. (2009) Smoke solutions and temperature influence the germination and seedling growth of South African mesic grassland species. Rangeland Ecology and Management 62, 572–578.Google Scholar
Gold, K. and Hay, F. (2014) Equilibrating Seeds to Specific Moisture Levels. Technical Information Sheet 9. Kew: Millennium Seed Bank Project.Google Scholar
Grabe, D.F. (1970) Tetrazolium Testing Handbook for Agricultural Seeds. Contribution Number 29 to the Handbook on Seed Testing. New Jersey, USA: Association of Official Seed Analysts: North Brunswick.Google Scholar
Grant, C.D. and Loneragan, W.A. (1999) The effects of burning on the understorey composition of 11–13 year-old rehabilitated bauxite mines in Western Australia. Plant Ecology 145, 291–305.Google Scholar
Hidayati, S.N., Walck, J.L., Merritt, D.J., Turner, S.R., Turner, D.W. and Dixon, K.W. (2012) Sympatric species of Hibbertia (Dilleniaceae) vary in dormancy break and germination requirements: implications for classifying morphophysiological dormancy in Mediterranean biomes. Annals of Botany 109, 1111–1123.Google Scholar
Hopper, S.D., Brown, A.P. and Marchant, N.G. (1997) Plants of Western Australian granite outcrops. Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia 80, 141–158.Google Scholar
Joosen, R.V.L., Kodde, J., Willems, L.A.J., Ligterink, W., van der Plas, L.H.W. and Hilhorst, H.W.M. (2010) GERMINATOR: a software package for high-throughput scoring and curve fitting of Arabidopsis seed germination. The Plant Journal 62, 148–159.Google Scholar
Lamont, B. (1985) Gradient and zonal analysis of understorey suppression by Eucalyptus wandoo. Vegetatio 63, 49–66.Google Scholar
Merritt, D.J., Turner, S.R., Clarke, S. and Dixon, K.W. (2007) Seed dormancy and germination stimulation syndromes for Australian temperate species. Australian Journal of Botany 55, 336–344.Google Scholar
Merritt, D.J., Kristiansen, M., Flematti, G., Turner, S.R., Ghisalberti, E.L., Trengove, R.D. and Dixon, K.W. (2006) Effects of a butenolide present in smoke on light-mediated germination of Australian Asteraceae. Seed Science Research 16, 29–35.Google Scholar
Miller, B.P. and Dixon, K.W. (2014) Plants and fire in Kwongan vegetation, pp. 147–169 in Lambers, H. (ed), Plant Life on the Sandplains in Southwest Australia, A Global Biodiversity Hotspot. Perth, Australia: University of Western Australia Press.Google Scholar
Nelson, D.C., Flematti, G.R., Ghisalberti, E.L., Dixon, K.W. and Smith, S.M. (2012) Regulation of seed germination and seedling growth by chemical signals from burning vegetation. Annual Review of Plant Biology 63, 107–130.Google Scholar
R Core Team (2014) R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. URL: http://www.R-project.org/Google Scholar
Roche, S., Dixon, K.W. and Pate, J.S. (1997a) Seed ageing and smoke: partner cues in the amelioration of seed dormancy in selected Australian native species. Australian Journal of Botany 45, 783–815.Google Scholar
Roche, S., Koch, J.M. and Dixon, K.W. (1997b) Smoke enhanced seed germination for mine rehabilitation in the southwest of Western Australia. Restoration Ecology 5, 191–203.Google Scholar
Rundel, P.W. and Parsons, D.J. (1984) Post-fire uptake of nutrients by diverse ephemeral herbs in chamise chaparral. Oecologia 61, 285–288.Google Scholar
SPSS (2012) IBM SPSS Statistics, version 21. Armonk, New York, USA: IBM Corp.Google Scholar
Steadman, K.J., Crawford, A.D. and Gallagher, R.S. (2003) Dormancy release in Lolium rigidum seeds is a function of thermal after-ripening time and seed water content. Functional Plant Biology 30, 345–352.Google Scholar
Stevens, J.C., Merritt, D.J., Flematti, G.R., Ghisalberti, E.L. and Dixon, K.W. (2007) Seed germination of agricultural weeds is promoted by the butenolide 3-methyl-2H-furo[2,3–c] pyran-2-one under laboratory and field conditions. Plant and Soil 298, 113–24.Google Scholar
Turner, S.R., Merritt, D.J., Ridley, E.C., Commander, L.E., Baskin, J.M., Baskin, C.C. and Dixon, K.W. (2006) Ecophysiology of seed dormancy in the Australian endemic species Acanthocarpus preissii (Dasypogonaceae). Annals of Botany 98, 1137–1144.Google Scholar
Turner, S.R., Merritt, D.J., Renton, M.S. and Dixon, K.W. (2009) Seed moisture content affects afterripening and smoke responsiveness in three sympatric Australian native species from fire prone environments. Austral Ecology 34, 866–877.Google Scholar
Vandelook, F., Verdú, M. and Honnay, O. (2012) The role of seed traits in determining the phylogenetic structure of temperate plant communities. Annals of Botany 110, 629–636.Google Scholar
Verdú, M. (2006) Tempo, mode and phylogenetic associations of relative embryo size evolution in angiosperms. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 19, 625–634.Google Scholar
Vivrette, N.J. (1995) Distribution and ecological significance of seed-embryo types in Mediterranean climates in California, Chile, and Australia, pp. 274–288 in Arroyo, M.T.K., Zedler, P.H. and Fox, M.D. (eds), Ecology and Biogeography of Mediterranean Ecosystems in Chile, California, and Australia. New York, USA: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Walck, J.L., Baskin, J.M. and Baskin, C.C. (1999) Relative competitive abilities and growth characteristics of a narrowly endemic and a geographically widespread Solidago species (Asteraceae). American Journal of Botany 86, 820–828.Google Scholar
Zhou, J., Kulkarni, M.G., Huang, L.Q., Guo, L.P. and Van Staden, J. (2012) Effects of temperature, light, nutrients and smoke-water on seed germination and seedling growth of Astragralus membranaceus, Panax notoginseng and Magnolia officinalis – highly traded Chinese medicinal plants. South African Journal of Botany 79, 62–70.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Hidayati et al. supplementary material

Figures S1 and S2

Download Hidayati et al. supplementary material(File)
File 252.4 KB