Germination, seedling performance, and root production after simulated partial seed predation of a threatened Atacama Desert shrub

BACKGROUND: Seed loss to predators is a common phenomenon across plant communities and an important determinant of plant recruitment. Although seed predators commonly destroy the entire seed, partial seed consumption has been reported for many species; however, the degree to which seed mass loss aff...

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Autores principales:	Loayza,Andrea P, Gachon,Paloma R, García-Guzmán,Patricio, Carvajal,Danny E, Squeo,Francisco A
Lenguaje:	English
Publicado:	Sociedad de Biología de Chile 2015
Materias:	Myrcianthes coquimbensis Partial seed predation Recalcitrant seed Tolerance
Acceso en línea:	http://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0716-078X2015000100010
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spelling	oai:scielo:S0716-078X20150001000102015-12-21Germination, seedling performance, and root production after simulated partial seed predation of a threatened Atacama Desert shrubLoayza,Andrea PGachon,Paloma RGarcía-Guzmán,PatricioCarvajal,Danny ESqueo,Francisco A Myrcianthes coquimbensis Partial seed predation Recalcitrant seed Tolerance BACKGROUND: Seed loss to predators is a common phenomenon across plant communities and an important determinant of plant recruitment. Although seed predators commonly destroy the entire seed, partial seed consumption has been reported for many species; however, the degree to which seed mass loss affects germination dynamics and survival of new individuals has been poorly documented. We simulated seed damage in natural conditions to examine how different levels of cotyledonary reserve removal affect germination dynamics and seedling performance of Myrcianthes coquimbensis (Myrtaceae), a threatened Atacama Desert shrub. The experiment combined two levels of seed maturity with three levels of seed mass loss. RESULTS: Removal of the cotyledon reserves and seed maturity negatively affected the odds and the temporality of seedling emergence; nonetheless, seedlings were able to emerge from seed fragments, of either mature or immature seeds, that lost up to 75% of their original mass. Removal of cotyledonary reserves had negative effects on seedling size but no effect on root:shoot ratios. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that the loss of cotyledonary reserves in M. coquimbensis seeds is not necessarily lethal. Moreover, we posit that tolerance to partial seed consumption is likely a key reproductive strategy, which enables recruitment in this species.info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessSociedad de Biología de ChileRevista chilena de historia natural v.88 20152015-01-01text/htmlhttp://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0716-078X2015000100010en10.1186/S40693-015-0039-1
institution	Scielo Chile
collection	Scielo Chile
language	English
topic	Myrcianthes coquimbensis Partial seed predation Recalcitrant seed Tolerance
spellingShingle	Myrcianthes coquimbensis Partial seed predation Recalcitrant seed Tolerance Loayza,Andrea P Gachon,Paloma R García-Guzmán,Patricio Carvajal,Danny E Squeo,Francisco A Germination, seedling performance, and root production after simulated partial seed predation of a threatened Atacama Desert shrub
description	BACKGROUND: Seed loss to predators is a common phenomenon across plant communities and an important determinant of plant recruitment. Although seed predators commonly destroy the entire seed, partial seed consumption has been reported for many species; however, the degree to which seed mass loss affects germination dynamics and survival of new individuals has been poorly documented. We simulated seed damage in natural conditions to examine how different levels of cotyledonary reserve removal affect germination dynamics and seedling performance of Myrcianthes coquimbensis (Myrtaceae), a threatened Atacama Desert shrub. The experiment combined two levels of seed maturity with three levels of seed mass loss. RESULTS: Removal of the cotyledon reserves and seed maturity negatively affected the odds and the temporality of seedling emergence; nonetheless, seedlings were able to emerge from seed fragments, of either mature or immature seeds, that lost up to 75% of their original mass. Removal of cotyledonary reserves had negative effects on seedling size but no effect on root:shoot ratios. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that the loss of cotyledonary reserves in M. coquimbensis seeds is not necessarily lethal. Moreover, we posit that tolerance to partial seed consumption is likely a key reproductive strategy, which enables recruitment in this species.
author	Loayza,Andrea P Gachon,Paloma R García-Guzmán,Patricio Carvajal,Danny E Squeo,Francisco A
author_facet	Loayza,Andrea P Gachon,Paloma R García-Guzmán,Patricio Carvajal,Danny E Squeo,Francisco A
author_sort	Loayza,Andrea P
title	Germination, seedling performance, and root production after simulated partial seed predation of a threatened Atacama Desert shrub
title_short	Germination, seedling performance, and root production after simulated partial seed predation of a threatened Atacama Desert shrub
title_full	Germination, seedling performance, and root production after simulated partial seed predation of a threatened Atacama Desert shrub
title_fullStr	Germination, seedling performance, and root production after simulated partial seed predation of a threatened Atacama Desert shrub
title_full_unstemmed	Germination, seedling performance, and root production after simulated partial seed predation of a threatened Atacama Desert shrub
title_sort	germination, seedling performance, and root production after simulated partial seed predation of a threatened atacama desert shrub
publisher	Sociedad de Biología de Chile
publishDate	2015
url	http://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0716-078X2015000100010
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Germination, seedling performance, and root production after simulated partial seed predation of a threatened Atacama Desert shrub

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