Title: Effects of three-dimensional soil heterogeneity on seed germination in controlled experiments

Authors: Yongjie Liu, Fujiang Hou*

Journal: Journal of Plant Ecology

Impact factor: IF₂₀₂₀=2.299

Abstract: Seed germinations react to their local growing conditions, but the impacts of soil heterogeneity on seed germinations are not well known. Effects of three-dimensional soil heterogeneity on seed germinations of grasses species were explored, where two levels of such soil heterogeneity were created via alternatively filling nutrient-poor and nutrient-rich substrate in pot in all directions. Patch sizes of the two heterogeneity levels are around 7.5 and 15 cm, respectively. Fifty seeds of each of the grasses species (Lolium perenne and Elymus nutans) were set either in these heterogeneous soils or in petri dishes with distilled water. Seed germinations of these species were daily recorded. Pots with smaller patches had relatively lower germination rate, which is consistent with our expectation that shorter distance between nutrient-rich and nutrient-poor patches in pots with smaller patches allows plants to reduce their germination rates and delay their germination, in order to reduce the negative impacts of the strong variation of soil resources in these pots. Pots with smaller patches also yielded more heterogeneous seed germination, i.e. seed germinations highly diverged among these pots. Such realistic three-dimensional design can improve our understanding of seed germination as driven by soil spatial heterogeneity.

Linkage: https://doi.org/10.1093/jpe/rtaa070