Growing temperature affects seed germination of the antarctic plant Colobanthus quitensis (Kunth) Bartl (Caryophyllaceae)

• Published in: Polar biology Vol. 40; no. 2; pp. 449 - 455
• Main Authors: Sanhueza, C., Vallejos, V., Cavieres, L. A., Saez, P., Bravo, L. A., Corcuera, L. J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01-02-2017; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Biomedical and Life Sciences; Caryophyllaceae; Climate change; Colobanthus quitensis; Ecology; Environmental conditions; Germination; Global warming; High temperature; Life Sciences; Microbiology; Oceanography; Original Paper; Plant growth; Plant populations; Plant Sciences; Reproduction; Seed germination; Seeds; Temperature effects; Zoology; PSW, Antarctica, South Shetland Is., King George I; Antarctic plants; Warming; Seeds; Maternal effect; Germination
• ISSN: 0722-4060; 1432-2056
• DOI: 10.1007/s00300-016-1972-4

Increases in populations of the two native higher plants that exist in the Antarctic have been thought to be caused by an improvement in their reproductive performance as a result of regional warming.
Colobanthus quitensis
dispersion by seeds and establishment are limited to years with sufficiently high summer temperatures. The main objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of increased growth temperature on the germination ability of
C. quitensis.
Individuals were collected from King George Island and grown at two different thermoperiods: 5/2 and 11/5 °C, day/night. Mature seeds produced under both growth temperatures were tested for viability and incubated under a range of temperatures from 5° to 35 °C. Seed viability was not significantly different between growth temperatures. Germination for
C. quitensis
was highly temperature dependent. Germination was modulated by temperatures over 10 °C. Seeds from 5/2 °C showed significant higher germination (>80 %) between 10 and 15 °C. Seed developed at 11/5 °C showed a broader range of temperature for germination between 10 and 25 °C. Higher growth temperature (11/5 °C) reduced the germination time significantly. Our results suggest that annual production of seeds leads to a high probability of germination at warmer environmental conditions because dormancy would be reduced at higher temperatures. Therefore, higher environmental temperatures, as those predicted to occur because of global warming, would increase the propagation of
C. quitensis
by germination.