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Seed Dormancy and Germination in Response to Climate Change
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Seed Dormancy and Germination in Response to Climate Change

A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Response to Abiotic Stress and Climate Change".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2021) | Viewed by 13530

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Marco Porceddu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Sardinian Germplasm Bank (BG-SAR), Hortus Botanicus Karalitanus (HBK), Department of Life and Environmental Sciences (DiSVA), University of Cagliari (UNICA), V.le Sant\'Ignazio da Laconi, 9-11, 09123 Cagliari, Italy
Interests: conservation biology; ex situ conservation; seed dormancy and germination; germination under heavy metal stress; germination in response to climate change; Mediterranean species; plant ecology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Climate change has an important influence on the distribution of plants, and strongly affects the reproductive phases of several species. Accordingly, over the last several decades a number of studies have been carried out in order to study the direct effects of rising temperatures, changing precipitation, melting snow, aridity, soil moisture, salinity, etc. on the reproductive and physiological processes in plants. However, many authors have concluded their works by highlighting the need for further studies to understand how climate change will affect plant regeneration.

In the literature, it is common to find controversial results related to the germination behavior of plant species under climate change. On the one hand, the seed germination and seedling establishment of some species appears to be seriously compromised by future climate conditions, while other species seem to be indirectly favored by these rapid climatic changes.

The situation becomes more complicated when the researchers need to find scientific responses in species with dormant seeds. By definition, seed dormancy prevents germination in a specified period of time, under any combination of environmental factors that otherwise favor germination. Thus, dormancy may be considered as an adaptive trait that optimizes the distribution of germination over time in a population of seeds. Therefore, including “environmental stress” due to climate change in the study of seed germination behavior in dormant species by may increase the difficulties in finding the correct interpretation of the results.

This Special Issue of Plants will thus collect and present research on the germination behavior of species with dormant and non-dormant seed, trying to implement research on this important topic and increasing the knowledge on the response of the species to climate change. We welcome original research papers, methods, reviews, and perspectives, from the study of germination response under climate change in sensu stricto, as well as the study of germination response under different environmental stresses which will be discussed, in some parts, in terms of key aspects of adaptation to climate change conditions.

Dr. Marco Porceddu
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Plants is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • climate change
  • conservation biology
  • environmental stress
  • global warming
  • seed germination
  • seed dormancy
  • seedling emergence
  • plant ecology
  • plant regeneration

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

24 pages, 3551 KiB  
Article
Effect of Seed Coating and PEG-Induced Drought on the Germination Capacity of Five Clover Crops
by Antonín Kintl, Igor Huňady, Tomáš Vymyslický, Vladěna Ondrisková, Tereza Hammerschmiedt, Martin Brtnický and Jakub Elbl
Plants 2021, 10(4), 724; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants10040724 - 8 Apr 2021
Cited by 17 | Viewed by 3208
Abstract
The effect of coating the seed of clover crops by water absorbing seed process (WASP) technology pelletization on its germination capacity was studied in conditions of diverse drought intensities simulated by different concentrations of polyethylenglycol (PEG) 8000 solution. Drought resistance was monitored in [...] Read more.
The effect of coating the seed of clover crops by water absorbing seed process (WASP) technology pelletization on its germination capacity was studied in conditions of diverse drought intensities simulated by different concentrations of polyethylenglycol (PEG) 8000 solution. Drought resistance was monitored in the seed of five fodder clover species: Anthyllis vulneraria L., Medicago lupulina L., Trifolium repens L., Melilotus albus Medik. and Onobrychis viciifolia Scop. In the seed of given plant species, germination capacity was determined along with the share of dead and hard seeds. Although the coating significantly (p < 0.05) affected the drought resistance of seeds, the germination capacity increased only in conditions of milder drought (simulation with PEG: 0.1–0.3 mol). With the increasing intensity of drought induced by higher PEG concentrations (0.4–0.7 mol) the number of germinable seeds demonstrably decreased and the number of dead seeds increased in the coated seed as compared with the uncoated seed. The coated seed can be appropriate for use in M. lupulina, M. albus and T. repens, while the uncoated seed can be used in A. vulneraria and O. viciifolia. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Seed Dormancy and Germination in Response to Climate Change)
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13 pages, 2855 KiB  
Article
Effects of Maternal Environment on Seed Germination and Seedling Vigor of Petunia × hybrida under Different Abiotic Stresses
by Chi D. Nguyen, Jianjun Chen, David Clark, Hector Perez and Heqiang (Alfred) Huo
Plants 2021, 10(3), 581; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants10030581 - 19 Mar 2021
Cited by 20 | Viewed by 4968
Abstract
Seed germination and seedling vigor can be affected by environmental cues experienced by the mother plant. However, information about how the maternal environment affects seed quality is scarce in ornamental plants. This study aimed to investigate the effects of two different maternal environments [...] Read more.
Seed germination and seedling vigor can be affected by environmental cues experienced by the mother plant. However, information about how the maternal environment affects seed quality is scarce in ornamental plants. This study aimed to investigate the effects of two different maternal environments on the seed germination and seedling vigor of Petunia × hybrida under a variety of abiotic stresses. Petunia mother plants were grown in either a greenhouse during the summer months or an indoor controlled-temperature-and-light environment. Collected seeds were subjected to external stressors, including polyethylene glycol (PEG), sodium chloride (NaCl), high temperature, and abscisic acid (ABA), to determine seed germination percentage and seedling vigor. Results indicated that seeds harvested from the mother plants grown in a controlled environment germinated better than seeds harvested from the mother plants grown in the greenhouse when suboptimal germination conditions were applied. Additionally, the seedlings from the controlled maternal environment performed better in both ABA and salinity stress tests than the greenhouse seedlings. Interestingly, the greenhouse seedlings displayed less reactive oxygen species (ROS) damage and lower electrolyte leakage than the controlled environment seedlings under dehydration stress. The difference in germination and seedling vigor of seeds from the two different maternal environments might be due to the epigenetic memory inherited from the mother plants. This study highlighted the strong impact of the maternal environment on seed germination and seedling vigor in Petunia and may assist in high-quality seed production in ornamental plants. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Seed Dormancy and Germination in Response to Climate Change)
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19 pages, 5906 KiB  
Article
Differential Interpretation of Mountain Temperatures by Endospermic Seeds of Three Endemic Species Impacts the Timing of In Situ Germination
by Marco Porceddu, Hugh W. Pritchard, Efisio Mattana and Gianluigi Bacchetta
Plants 2020, 9(10), 1382; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants9101382 - 16 Oct 2020
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3386
Abstract
Predicting seed germination in the field is a critical part of anticipating the impact of climate change on the timing of wild species regeneration. We combined thermal time and soil heat sum models of seed germination for three endemic Mediterranean mountain species with [...] Read more.
Predicting seed germination in the field is a critical part of anticipating the impact of climate change on the timing of wild species regeneration. We combined thermal time and soil heat sum models of seed germination for three endemic Mediterranean mountain species with endospermic seeds and morphophysiological dormancy: Aquilegia barbaricina, Paeonia corsica, and Ribes sandalioticum. Seeds were buried in the soil within the respective collection sites, both underneath and outside the tree canopy, and their growth was assessed regularly and related to soil temperatures and estimates of the thermal characteristics of the seeds. The thermal thresholds for embryo growth and seed germination of A. barbaricina assessed in previous studies under controlled conditions were used to calculate soil heat sum accumulation of this species in the field. Thermal thresholds of seed germination for P. corsica and R. sandalioticum were not previously known and were estimated for the first time in this field study, based on findings of previous works carried out under controlled conditions. Critical embryo length and maximum germination for A. barbaricina were reached in April, and in December for R. sandalioticum. Seeds of P. corsica stay dormant in the ground until the following summer, and the critical embryo length and highest germination were detected from September to December. Soil heat sum models predicted earlier germination by one month for all three species under two Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) scenarios, based on the assumption that the estimated thermal thresholds will remain constant through climate changes. This phenological shift may increase the risk of mortality for young seedlings. The models developed provide important means of connecting the micro-environmental niche for in situ seed germination and the macro-environmental parameters under a global warming scenario. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Seed Dormancy and Germination in Response to Climate Change)
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