Abstract
Cangas (ironstone outcrops) host a specialized flora, characterized by high degree of edaphic endemism and an apparent lack of natural history knowledge of its flora. Due to intense pressure from iron ore mining this ecosystem is under threat and in need of restoration. We studied seed functional traits that are relevant for restoration, translocation and ex situ conservation in 48 species from cangas in eastern Amazon. Were determined the thermal niche breadth, classified seed dormancy and determined methods to overcome it, determined the effect of seed storage on germination, tested the association between germination traits and functional groups, and tested whether seed traits are phylogenetically conserved. We found a broad interspecific variation in most seed traits, except for seed water content. Large interspecific variation in the temperature niche breadth was found among the studied species, but only four species, showed optimum germination at high temperatures of 35–40°C, despite high temperatures under natural conditions. Only 35% of the studied species produced dormant seeds. Mechanical scarification was effective in overcoming physical dormancy and application of gibberellic acid was effective in overcoming physiological dormancy in five species. For the 29 species that seeds were stored for 24 months, 76% showed decreases in the germination percentage. The weak association between germination traits and life-history traits indicate that no particular plant functional type requires specific methods for seed-based translocations. Exceptions were the lianas which showed relatively larger seeds compared to the other growth-forms. Dormancy was the only trait strongly related to phylogeny, suggesting that phylogenetic relatedness may not be a good predictor of regeneration from seeds in cangas. Our study provides support to better manage seed sourcing, use, storage and enhancement techniques with expected reduced costs and increased seedling establishment success.
Highlights
Ex situ conservation and ecological restoration are examples of parallel strategies that have been increasingly advocated as important elements in conservation of biodiversity at both regional and global scales (Li and Pritchard, 2009; Sharrock et al, 2014; O’Donnell and Sharrock, 2017; Wyse et al, 2018)
Our goal was to explore the diversity of seed functional traits in 48 species under the influence of mining activity to provide restoration-relevant data that can support better informeddecisions on translocation, restoration and ex situ conservation strategies
Despite the strong environmental filters at the Amazon cangas, we found a broad interspecific variation in most seed traits
Summary
Ex situ conservation and ecological restoration are examples of parallel strategies that have been increasingly advocated as important elements in conservation of biodiversity at both regional and global scales (Li and Pritchard, 2009; Sharrock et al, 2014; O’Donnell and Sharrock, 2017; Wyse et al, 2018). The determination of the percentage of dormant, inviable, viable and empty seeds provides important information for estimating and calculating the number of seeds to be used in ecological restoration and ex situ conservation programs (Erickson et al, 2016, 2017; Kildisheva et al, 2020). These traits are appropriate for informing species selection (Pywell et al, 2003), planning methods of species propagation and designing seed sowing strategies (Miller et al, 2017). Species with slower germination may be sowed during latter stages of regeneration or in invasive-free sites
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