Soil salinity regulates spatial-temporal heterogeneity of seed germination and seedbank persistence of an annual diaspore-trimorphic halophyte in northern China

作者：Zhaoren Wang, Jerry M. Baskin, Carol C. Baskin, Guofang Liu, Xuehua Ye, Xuejun Yang, Zhenying Huang · 发表于：BMC Plant Biology · 年份：2024 · DOI：10.1186/s12870-024-05307-x · 被引用次数：4 · 研究领域：Seed Germination and Physiology、Fern and Epiphyte Biology、Plant Parasitism and Resistance

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Seed heteromorphism is a plant strategy that an individual plant produces two or more distinct types of diaspores, which have diverse morphology, dispersal ability, ecological functions and different effects on plant life history traits. The aim of this study was to test the effects of seasonal soil salinity and burial depth on the dynamics of dormancy/germination and persistence/depletion of buried trimorphic diaspores of a desert annual halophyte Atriplex centralasiatica. METHODS: We investigated the effects of salinity and seasonal fluctuations of temperature on germination, recovery of germination and mortality of types A, B, C diaspores of A. centralasiatica in the laboratory and buried diaspores in situ at four soil salinities and three depths. Diaspores were collected monthly from the seedbank from December 2016 to November 2018, and the number of viable diaspores remaining (not depleted) and their germinability were determined. RESULTS: soil salinity, respectively. High salinity and shallow burial delayed depletion of diaspore types B and C. High salinity delayed depletion time of the three diaspore types and delayed dormancy release of types B and C diaspores from autumn to spring. Soil salinity modified the response of diaspores in the seedbank by delaying seed dormancy release in autum and winter and by providing a low-salt concentration window for germination of non-dormant diaspores in spring and early summer. CONCLUSIONS: Buried trimorphic d...