Interactions between seed functional traits and environmental factors and their influence on germination performance of Australian native species

Abstract

Climate variability is expected to increase due to climate change, with projected increases in temperature and erratic rainfall patterns. These changes will alter the environmental cues sensed by seeds, and therefore will impact plant recruitment. This study investigated the effects of seed functional traits (germinability, germination time, synchrony and seed mass) on germination responses of several sub-tropical native Australian plant species under different environmental factors (water stress, salinity and pH). The effect of a hot water pre-treatment was also tested on Fabaceae seeds with known physical dormancy. Seed traits, environmental factors and seed pre-treatments had significant effects on final germination percentage and germination time. Seed mass and time to 50% germination (t50) were also positively correlated. In contrast, pH did not affect germination and there was no interaction between pH and any of the measured seed functional traits. Some species showed a high thermal tolerance to germination and germination was indifferent to light conditions for all species. Results showed that certain seed functional traits interact with environmental factors to influence germination percentage and time. These findings highlight the importance of considering seed functional traits when determining a species germination response under a changing climate. In addition, the findings provide important knowledge to better guide seed-based land restoration programmes.