Seed germination responses to seasonal temperature and drought stress are species‐specific but not related to seed size in a desert steppe: Implications for effect of climate change on community structure

作者：Fengyan Yi, Zhaoren Wang, Carol C. Baskin, Jerry M. Baskin, Ruhan Ye, Hailian Sun, Yuanyuan Zhang, Xuehua Ye, Guofang Liu, Xuejun Yang, Zhenying Huang · 发表于：Ecology and Evolution · 年份：2019 · DOI：10.1002/ece3.4909 · 被引用次数：97 · 研究领域：Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies、Plant and animal studies、Plant Parasitism and Resistance

Abstract Investigating how seed germination of multiple species in an ecosystem responds to environmental conditions is crucial for understanding the mechanisms for community structure and biodiversity maintenance. However, knowledge of seed germination response of species to environmental conditions is still scarce at the community level. We hypothesized that responses of seed germination to environmental conditions differ among species at the community level, and that germination response is not correlated with seed size. To test this hypothesis, we determined the response of seed germination of 20 common species in the Siziwang Desert Steppe, China, to seasonal temperature regimes (representing April, May, June, and July) and drought stress (0, −0.003, −0.027, −0.155, and −0.87 MPa). Seed germination percentage increased with increasing temperature regime, but Allium ramosum , Allium tenuissimum , Artemisia annua , Artemisia mongolica, Artemisia scoparia , Artemisia sieversiana , Bassia dasyphylla, Kochia prastrata, and Neopallasia pectinata germinated to >60% in the lowest temperature regime (April). Germination decreased with increasing water stress, but Allium ramosum , Artemisia annua , Artemisia scoparia , Bassia dasyphylla, Heteropappus altaicus , Kochia prastrata , Neopallasia pectinata, and Potentilla tanacetifolia germinated to near 60% at −0.87 MPa. Among these eight species, germination of six was tolerant to both temperature and water stress. Mean germinatio...