Germination at Extreme Temperatures: Implications for Alpine Shrub Encroachment
Worldwide, shrub cover is increasing across alpine and tundra landscapes in response to warming ambient temperatures and declines in snowpack. With a changing climate, shrub encroachment may rely on recruitment from seed occurring outside of the optimum temperature range. We used a temperature gradi...
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:7915672 2023-05-15T18:40:30+02:00 Germination at Extreme Temperatures: Implications for Alpine Shrub Encroachment Venn, Susanna E. Gallagher, Rachael V. Nicotra, Adrienne B. 2021-02-09 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7915672/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33572051 https://doi.org/10.3390/plants10020327 en eng MDPI http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7915672/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33572051 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/plants10020327 © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). CC-BY Plants (Basel) Communication Text 2021 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.3390/plants10020327 2021-03-07T02:10:41Z Worldwide, shrub cover is increasing across alpine and tundra landscapes in response to warming ambient temperatures and declines in snowpack. With a changing climate, shrub encroachment may rely on recruitment from seed occurring outside of the optimum temperature range. We used a temperature gradient plate in order to determine the germination niche of 14 alpine shrub species. We then related the range in laboratory germination temperatures of each species to long-term average temperature conditions at: (1) the location of the seed accession site and (2) across each species geographic distribution. Seven of the species failed to germinate sufficiently to be included in the analyses. For the other species, the germination niche was broad, spanning a range in temperatures of up to 17 °C, despite very low germination rates in some species. Temperatures associated with the highest germination percentages were all above the range of temperatures present at each specific seed accession site. Optimum germination temperatures were consistently within or higher than the range of maximum temperatures modelled across the species’ geographic distribution. Our results indicate that while some shrub species germinate well at high temperatures, others are apparently constrained by an inherent seed dormancy. Shrub encroachment in alpine areas will likely depend on conditions that affect seed germination at the microsite-scale, despite overall conditions becoming more suitable for shrubs at high elevations. Text Tundra PubMed Central (PMC) Plants 10 2 327 |
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Communication Venn, Susanna E. Gallagher, Rachael V. Nicotra, Adrienne B. Germination at Extreme Temperatures: Implications for Alpine Shrub Encroachment |
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Communication |
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Worldwide, shrub cover is increasing across alpine and tundra landscapes in response to warming ambient temperatures and declines in snowpack. With a changing climate, shrub encroachment may rely on recruitment from seed occurring outside of the optimum temperature range. We used a temperature gradient plate in order to determine the germination niche of 14 alpine shrub species. We then related the range in laboratory germination temperatures of each species to long-term average temperature conditions at: (1) the location of the seed accession site and (2) across each species geographic distribution. Seven of the species failed to germinate sufficiently to be included in the analyses. For the other species, the germination niche was broad, spanning a range in temperatures of up to 17 °C, despite very low germination rates in some species. Temperatures associated with the highest germination percentages were all above the range of temperatures present at each specific seed accession site. Optimum germination temperatures were consistently within or higher than the range of maximum temperatures modelled across the species’ geographic distribution. Our results indicate that while some shrub species germinate well at high temperatures, others are apparently constrained by an inherent seed dormancy. Shrub encroachment in alpine areas will likely depend on conditions that affect seed germination at the microsite-scale, despite overall conditions becoming more suitable for shrubs at high elevations. |
format |
Text |
author |
Venn, Susanna E. Gallagher, Rachael V. Nicotra, Adrienne B. |
author_facet |
Venn, Susanna E. Gallagher, Rachael V. Nicotra, Adrienne B. |
author_sort |
Venn, Susanna E. |
title |
Germination at Extreme Temperatures: Implications for Alpine Shrub Encroachment |
title_short |
Germination at Extreme Temperatures: Implications for Alpine Shrub Encroachment |
title_full |
Germination at Extreme Temperatures: Implications for Alpine Shrub Encroachment |
title_fullStr |
Germination at Extreme Temperatures: Implications for Alpine Shrub Encroachment |
title_full_unstemmed |
Germination at Extreme Temperatures: Implications for Alpine Shrub Encroachment |
title_sort |
germination at extreme temperatures: implications for alpine shrub encroachment |
publisher |
MDPI |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7915672/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33572051 https://doi.org/10.3390/plants10020327 |
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Tundra |
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Tundra |
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Plants (Basel) |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7915672/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33572051 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/plants10020327 |
op_rights |
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
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CC-BY |
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https://doi.org/10.3390/plants10020327 |
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327 |
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