Are orthodox Australian rainforest seeds short-lived in storage?
Karen D. Sommerville
A * , Zoe-Joy Newby A , Amelia J. Martyn Yenson A and Catherine A. Offord A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A The Australian PlantBank, Botanic Gardens of Sydney, Mount Annan, NSW 2567, Australia.
Australian Journal of Botany - https://doi.org/10.1071/BT22104
Submitted: 2 September 2022 Accepted: 24 April 2023 Published online: 19 May 2023
© 2023 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)
Abstract
Context: Fifty per cent of Australian rainforest species produce orthodox seeds, but little is known about their longevity in storage.
Aims: To (1) estimate the longevity of seeds of 33 rainforest species using artificial aging; (2) assess the influence of habit, habitat range (restricted to rainforest or more broadly distributed), seed characteristics (endospermy, dry weight), and collection environment (e.g. precipitation, elevation and average temperature) on longevity; (3) compare longevity of rainforest seeds to previously assessed species from non-rainforest habitats; (4) compare longevity in artificial aging to real-time longevity in storage.
Methods: Seeds were aged at 60% relative humidity and 45°C, and tested at pre-determined intervals until germination was reduced to zero. The time taken for germination to decline to 50% (p50AA) was calculated by probit analysis. Ordinary least-squares regression was used to model p50AA for rainforest and non-rainforest species against predictor variables. Values for p50AA were then compared with the actual longevity in storage at −20°C (p50RT) using Pearson’s correlation.
Key results: Species restricted to rainforest exhibited a significantly lower p50AA than species with a wider distribution or those restricted to non-rainforest habitats. Collection elevation had a significant negative influence on p50AA. In all, 14 of 33 species showed a significant decline in viability after ≤12 years in storage. Values of p50AA were not correlated with p50RT.
Conclusions: Rainforests contain a high proportion of potentially, and actually, short-lived species; however, p50AA is not a good predictor of their real-time longevity.
Implications: Rainforest species should be managed as short-lived, with viability checked at least every 5 years, until real-time longevity data indicate otherwise.
Keywords: accelerated aging, artificial aging, comparative longevity, plant conservation, rainforest seeds, real-time aging, seed banking, seed lifespan, seed storage, viability.
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