Palms are the most common support hosts for strangler fig (Ficus aurea) in the tropical dry forest. At Hummingbird Cay Tropical Field Station in the Bahamas, viable F. aurea seeds scattered on open soil germinate within 6 d in the laboratory at 27C in light or darkness. To test the hypothesis that water relations between seed and substrate can restrict the site of F. aurea establishment, fig se...

it is well known that sugar beet is sensitive to salinity stress at the germination stage. three separate experiments were conducted to study the effects of salinity on seed germination, plant establishment, and yield of sugar beet genotypes for screening purposes. these included: (a) a laboratory study using four water salinity levels (with ec values < 0.1 as the control, 16, 20, and 24 ds m-1...

Seed germination, seedling emergence and crop establishment are important aspects of canola production, and are the main components of seed/seedling vigour. A major concern of seed businesses and canola growers alike is loss of seed vigour that may go undetected before planting. Two vigour assays, based on off-gassing of ethyl alcohol from poor vigour seed, are being developed. They are a simpl...

PAILLET, F. L. (U.S. Geol. Survey, MS 403, Box 25046, Federal Center, Denver, CO 802250046). Character and distribution of American chestnut sprouts in southern New England woodlands. Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 115: 32-44. 1988.-American chestnut sprout populations were mapped on 14 sites of approximately 1 square kilometer in Connecticut and Massachusetts. Living sprouts were nearly continuous in ...

The spatial organization of chromatin can be subject to extensive remodeling in plant somatic cells in response to developmental and environmental signals. However, the mechanisms controlling these dynamic changes and their functional impact on nuclear activity are poorly understood. Here, we determined that light perception triggers a switch between two different nuclear architectural schemes ...

19 The negative correlation between dispersal and establishment appears to be well documented 20 in the plant literature; smaller seeds tend to disperse better but germinate less well, and 21 produce smaller seedlings. However, because dispersal capacity is often quantified using 22 proxies, such as the settling velocity of wind-dispersed seeds, little is known about the exact 23 shape of this ...

On a global scale, temperature is the main determinant of arctic and alpine treeline position. However on a local scale, treeline form and position vary considerably due to other climatic factors, tree species ecology and life-stage-dependent responses. For treelines to advance poleward or uphill, the first steps are germination and seedling establishment. These earliest life stages may be majo...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Formation of seed banks and dormancy cycling are well known in annual species, but not in woody species. In this study it was hypothesized that the long-lived halophytic cold desert shrub Kalidium gracile has a seed bank and dormancy cycling, which help restrict germination to a favourable time for seedling survival. METHODS Fresh seeds were buried in November 2009 and exh...