Germination is related to seed mass in grasses (Poaceae) of the eastern Qinghai‐Tibetan Plateau, China

Abstract

Seed germination is a vulnerable stage in the plant life cycle. Many studies have focused on effects of seed mass on seed germination within a single species, but few studies have compared species of a common habitat. Poaceae plants are widely distributed on the Qinghai‐Tibetan Plateau. We investigated how seed mass affect seed germination characters with forty‐seven species of Poaceae typical to the alpine meadows of the eastern Qinghai‐Tibetan plateau. The frequency of seed mass classes for these species produced a log‐normal distribution. The weight of the seeds varied from 0.11 mg to 14.4 mg, and the weight variation nearly reached 103%. There were positive correlations between seed mass and germination index (R=0.331, p<0.05) and between seed mass and germination percentage (R=0.168, p>0.05). The results suggest that seed mass of the Poaceae family on the eastern Qinghai–Tibetan plateau is comparatively log‐normal distributed as consistent with other studies, and the larger‐seed species have faster germination than the smaller‐seed species. Seed mass could be considered as one of the maintenance and construction mechanisms for plant communities in alpine meadows.