Data from: Seedling recruitment in subalpine grassland forbs: predicting field regeneration behaviour from lab germination responses ...

• Main Authors: Vandvik, Vigdis, Elven, Reidar, Töpper, Joachim
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: Dryad 2017
• Subjects: Primula scandinavica; Gentiana nivalis; Veronica alpina; generalized mixed models GLMM; Potentilla crantzii; seedling mortality; Knautia arvensis; Trollius europaeus; seed size; Gentianella amarella; Geranium sylvaticum; seedling emergence; Campanula rotundifolia; Viola biflora; Ranunculus platanifolius; environmental cueing; Norway
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.04f8c; https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.04f8c

Environmental cueing that restricts seed germination onto times and places where mortality risk is relatively low may have considerable selective advantage. The predictive power of lab germination responses for field regeneration behaviour is rarely tested. We screened 11 alpine grassland forbs for germination behaviours predictive of microsite and seasonal selectivity, and seed carry-over across years. The predictions were tested in a field experiment. Germination in the lab ranged from 0.05% to 67.9%, and was affected by light (5 species), temperature (6), fluctuating temperatures (4), moist chilling prior to germination (cold-stratification) (6), and dormancy-breaking by means of gibberellic acid (8). Seedling emergence in the field varied from 0.1% to 14.1%, and increased in low-competition microsites (bare-ground gaps and cut vegetation; 7 species), and showed seasonal timing (1 in autumn and 1 in spring), and seed carry-over across years (7). Lab germination responses successfully predicted microsite ... : Vandvik_germinationData from for lab germination experiments and a field regeneration experiment of 11 alpine grassland forbs in Norway in 1998-2000. ...