Seed germination and seedling emergence of herbs in sand
Kazuo Tobe A C and Yong Gao BA Laboratory of Intellectual Fundamentals for Environmental Studies, National Institute for Environmental Studies, 16-2 Onogawa, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8506, Japan.
B Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Huhhot 010018, China.
C Corresponding author. Email: tobe@nies.go.jp
Australian Journal of Botany 55(1) 55-62 https://doi.org/10.1071/BT06060
Submitted: 26 March 2006 Accepted: 24 August 2006 Published: 18 January 2007
Abstract
Laboratory experiments were carried out to examine the effects of temperature, irrigation and the depth of seed burial in sand on seed germination and seedling emergence of Astragalus adsurgens Pall. and Melilotus albus Desr. (Fabaceae), which are herbs often used to rehabilitate desertified sand dunes in China. Seeds of both species germinated well between 5 and 35°C, indicating that temperature is not a determinant of seed germination in the field for either species. For both species, seedling emergence from sand was favoured when seeds were buried at depths of 5–30 mm. Because an increase in the amount of irrigation resulted in a higher moisture content in sand and persistence of moisture in sand for a longer period, a larger amount of irrigation resulted in a larger number of seedlings emerging. Seedlings stimulated to emerge by a larger amount of irrigation survived for a longer period. It appeared in the field that light and infrequent precipitation in spring would result only in futile germination of buried seeds, and that frequent and relatively heavy precipitation in the summer rainy season would enable seedling establishment of these species.
Ackerman TL
(1979) Germination and survival of perennial plant species in the Mojave Desert. Southwestern Naturalist 24, 399–408.
Barley KP, Greacen EL
(1967) Mechanical resistance as a soil factor influencing the growth of roots and underground shoots. Advances in Agronomy 19, 1–43.
Beatley JC
(1967) Survival of winter annuals in the northern Mojave Desert. Ecology 48, 745–750.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Bowers JE
(1982) The plant ecology of inland dunes in western North America. Journal of Arid Environments 5, 199–220.
Chen H, Maun MA
(1999) Effects of sand burial depth on seed germination and seedling emergence in Cirsium pitcheri. Plant Ecology 140, 53–60.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Collis-George N, Yoganathan P
(1985a) The effect of soil strength on germination and emergence of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). I. Low shear strength conditions. Australian Journal of Soil Research 23, 577–587.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Collis-George N, Yoganathan P
(1985b) The effect of soil strength on germination and emergence of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). II. High shear strength conditions. Australian Journal of Soil Research 23, 589–601.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Fullen MA, Mitchell DJ
(1994) Desertification and reclamation in north-central China. Ambio 23, 131–135.
Gao Y,
Qiu GY,
Shimizu H,
Tobe K, Wang J
(2002) A 10-year study on techniques for vegetation restoration in a desertified salt lake area. Journal of Arid Environments 52, 483–497.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Gutterman Y, Evenari M
(1994) The influences of amounts and distribution of irrigation during the hot and dry season on emergence and survival of some desert winter annual plants in the Negev Desert. Israel Journal of Plant Sciences 42, 1–14.
Halsey TC, Levine AJ
(1998) How sandcastles fall. Physical Review Letters 80, 3141–3144.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Heichel GH, Day PR
(1972) Dark germination and seedling growth in monocots and dicots of different photosynthetic efficiencies in 2% and 20.9% O2. Plant Physiology 49, 280–283.
| PubMed |
Hirobe M,
Ohte N,
Karasawa N,
Zhang G,
Wang L, Yoshikawa K
(2001) Plant species effect on the spatial patterns of soil properties in the Mu-us desert ecosystem, Inner Mongolia, China. Plant and Soil 234, 195–205.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Jalota SK, Prihar SS
(1986) Effects of atmospheric evaporativity, soil type and redistribution time on evaporation from bare soil. Australian Journal of Soil Research 24, 357–366.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Jordan PW, Nobel PS
(1979) Infrequent establishment of seedlings of Agave deserti (Agavaceae) in the northeastern Sonoran Desert. American Journal of Botany 66, 1079–1084.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Jordan PW, Nobel PS
(1981) Seedling establishment of Ferocactus acanthodes in relation to drought. Ecology 62, 901–906.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Juhren M,
Went FW, Phillips E
(1956) Ecology of desert plants. IV. Combined field and laboratory work on germination and annuals in the Joshua Tree National Monument, California. Ecology 37, 318–330.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Kobayashi T,
Liao R-T, Li S-Q
(1995) Ecophysiological behavior of Artemisia ordosica on the process of sand dune fixation. Ecological Research 10, 339–349.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Kondo J
(1993) Time variation in soil water content of the surface soil layer after a rainfall. Journal of Japan Society of Hydrology and Water Resources [in Japanese with English abstract] 6, 336–343.
Lauenroth WK,
Sala OE,
Coffin DP, Kirchner TB
(1994) The importance of soil water in the recruitment of Bouteloua gracilis in the shortgrass steppe. Ecological Applications 4, 741–749.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Li X-R,
Zhou H-Y,
Wang X-P,
Zhu Y-G, O’Conner PJ
(2003) The effects of sand stabilization and revegetation on cryptogam species diversity and soil fertility in the Tengger Desert, northern China. Plant and Soil 251, 237–245.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Loria M, Noy-Meir I
(1979–1980) Dynamics of some annual populations in a desert loess plain. Israel Journal of Botany 28, 211–225.
Mott JJ
(1972) Germination studies on some annual species from an arid region of Western Australia. Journal of Ecology 60, 293–304.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Mott JJ
(1974) Factors affecting seed germination in three annual species from an arid region of Western Australia. Journal of Ecology 62, 699–709.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Pemadasa MA, Lovell PH
(1975) Factors controlling germination of some dune annuals. Journal of Ecology 63, 41–59.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Sala OE,
Lauenroth WK, Parton WJ
(1992) Long-term soil water dynamics in the shortgrass steppe. Ecology 73, 1175–1181.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Tevis L
(1958) Germination and growth of ephemerals induced by sprinkling a sandy desert. Ecology 39, 681–688.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Tobe K,
Zhang L, Omasa K
(2005a) Seed germination and seedling emergence of three annuals growing on desert sand dunes in China. Annals of Botany 95, 649–659.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed |
Tobe K,
Li X, Omasa K
(2005b) Effects of irrigation on seedling emergence and seedling survival of a desert shrub Haloxylon ammodendron (Chenopodiaceae). Australian Journal of Botany 53, 529–534.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Went FW
(1949) Ecology of desert plants. II. The effect of rain and temperature on germination and growth. Ecology 30, 1–13.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Went FW, Westergaard M
(1949) Ecology of desert plants. III. Development of plants in the Death Valley National Monument, California. Ecology 30, 26–38.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
