Journal
SEED SCIENCE RESEARCH
Volume 22, Issue 3, Pages 199-205Publisher
CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1017/S0960258512000062
Keywords
Centaurium; dormancy; endemic; Gentianaceae; germination; springs; wetlands
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Funding
- Fundacion Biodiversidad (Spanish Ministry of the Environment) through the project Conservacion ex situ de plantas amenazadas de maxima prioridad en el norte peninsular: Aster pyrenaeus y Centaurium somedanum
- Government of Asturias (Plan de Ciencia, Tecnologia e Innovacion del Principado de Asturias)
- European Social Fund through the Spanish Ministry of Science [PTA2007-0726-I]
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To improve understanding of how a rare endemic species of Centaur/urn adapts to a specialized ecological niche, we studied the germination ecology of the mountain spring specialist, C. somedanum, a perennial species restricted to an unusual habitat for this genus. We conducted laboratory experiments with fresh seeds collected from two populations for three consecutive years, to investigate: (1) the effect of temperature and light on germination; (2) the existence of seed dormancy; and (3) inter-population and inter-annual variation in germinability. Germination occurred only in the light and at relatively low temperatures (15-22 degrees C) with no differences between constant and alternating regimes, and a significant decrease at high temperatures (25 degrees C and 30 degrees C). We found non-deep simple morphophysiological dormancy and variation in seed germinability depending on the year of seed collection. C. somedanum diverged from the common germination characteristics of the genus in: (1) its germination at lower temperatures, which contrasts with what is generally expected in wetland species but could be adaptive in the spring habitat; and (2) its morphophysiological dormancy, which we report here for the first time in the genus and which could be an adaptation to its mountain habitat.
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