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Seed Dispersal and Germination Traits of 70 Plant Species Inhabiting the Gurbantunggut Desert in Northwest China
Joint Authors
Liu, Huiliang
Zhang, Daoyuan
Yang, Xuejun
Huang, Zhenying
Duan, Shimin
Wang, Xiyong
Source
Issue
Vol. 2014, Issue 2014 (31 Dec. 2014), pp.1-12, 12 p.
Publisher
Hindawi Publishing Corporation
Publication Date
2014-11-16
Country of Publication
Egypt
No. of Pages
12
Main Subjects
Medicine
Information Technology and Computer Science
Abstract EN
Seed dispersal and germination were examined for 70 species from the cold Gurbantunggut Desert in northwest China.
Mean and range (3 orders of magnitude) of seed mass were smaller and narrower than those in other floras (5–8 orders of magnitude), which implies that selection favors relatively smaller seeds in this desert.
We identified five dispersal syndromes (anemochory, zoochory, autochory, barochory, and ombrohydrochory), and anemochorous species were most abundant.
Seed mass (F=3.50, P=0.01), seed size (F=8.31, P<0.01), and seed shape (F=2.62, P=0.04) differed significantly among the five dispersal syndromes and barochorous species were significantly smaller and rounder than the others.
There were no significant correlations between seed mass (seed weight) (P=0.15), seed size (P=0.38), or seed shape (variance) (P=0.95) and germination percentage.
However, germination percentages differed significantly among the dispersal syndromes (F=3.64, P=0.01) and seeds of ombrohydrochorous species had higher germination percentages than those of the other species.
In the Gurbantunggut Desert, the percentage of species with seed dormancy was about 80%.
In general, our studies suggest that adaptive strategies in seed dispersal and germination of plants in this area are closely related to the environment in which they live and that they are influenced by natural selection forces.
American Psychological Association (APA)
Liu, Huiliang& Zhang, Daoyuan& Yang, Xuejun& Huang, Zhenying& Duan, Shimin& Wang, Xiyong. 2014. Seed Dispersal and Germination Traits of 70 Plant Species Inhabiting the Gurbantunggut Desert in Northwest China. The Scientific World Journal،Vol. 2014, no. 2014, pp.1-12.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-1049268
Modern Language Association (MLA)
Liu, Huiliang…[et al.]. Seed Dispersal and Germination Traits of 70 Plant Species Inhabiting the Gurbantunggut Desert in Northwest China. The Scientific World Journal No. 2014 (2014), pp.1-12.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-1049268
American Medical Association (AMA)
Liu, Huiliang& Zhang, Daoyuan& Yang, Xuejun& Huang, Zhenying& Duan, Shimin& Wang, Xiyong. Seed Dispersal and Germination Traits of 70 Plant Species Inhabiting the Gurbantunggut Desert in Northwest China. The Scientific World Journal. 2014. Vol. 2014, no. 2014, pp.1-12.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-1049268
Data Type
Journal Articles
Language
English
Notes
Includes bibliographical references
Record ID
BIM-1049268