Germination timing of Arabidopsis thaliana displays strong plasticity to geographic location and seasonal conditions experienced by seeds. We identified which plastic responses were adaptive using recombinant inbred lines in a field manipulation of geographic location (Kentucky, KY; Rhode Island, RI), maternal photoperiod (14-h and 10-h days), and season of dispersal (June and November). Transg...

Moisture is one essential condition for seed germination, and poor germination is very costly to growers. There is, nevertheless, little experimental evidence concerning the effects of different percentages of available moisture (5) on germination; more study of the subject is essential. Since most vegetable seeds are planted at shallow depths, there may be rapid fluctuations of soil moisture a...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Across their range, widely distributed species are exposed to a variety of climatic and other environmental conditions, and accordingly may display variation in life history strategies. For seed germination in cold climates, two contrasting responses to variation in winter temperature have been documented: first, an increased ability to germinate at low temperatures (cold to...

Seed germination is the key step for successful establishment, growth and further expansion of population especially for alien plants with annual life cycle. Traits like better adaptability and germination response were thought to be associated with plant invasion. However, there are not enough empirical studies correlating adaptation to environmental factors with germination response of alien ...

Germination response to fluctuating temperatures is a mechanism by which seeds detect gaps in vegetation canopies and depth of burial in soil, and it is very important for plants. Thus, studies on the effect of fluctuating temperature on germination at the community level are valuable for understanding community structure and biodiversity maintenance. We determined the effects of two alternatin...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Most current thermal-germination models are parameterized with subpopulation-specific rate data, interpolated from cumulative-germination-response curves. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relative accuracy of three-dimensional models for predicting cumulative germination response to temperature. Three-dimensional models are relatively more efficient to implement...

A relatively small but consistent increase in the frequency of spore formation by an oligosporogenous strain of Bacillus popilliae (NRRL B-2309M) was obtained by adding 0.1% sodium pyruvate to the sporulation medium. The frequency of spore formation was essentially the same when a low level of glucose, trehalose, or glucose-6-phosphate or a high level of alpha-methyl-d-mannoside was added as th...

To assess the possible impact of transgenic poplar plantations on the ecosystem, we analyzed the frequency and distance of gene flow from a mature male transgenic Populus nigra plantation carrying the Bacillus thuringiensis toxin gene (Bt poplar) and the survival of Bt poplar seeds. The resultant Bt poplar seeds occurred at a frequency of ~0.15% at 0 m to ~0.02% at 500 m from the Bt poplar plan...

"Changes in cell hydration" have been hypothesized as an input signal for intracellular metabolic cascade responsible for biological effects of nonionizing radiation (NIR). To test this hypothesis a comparative study on the impacts of different temperature and NIR (infrasound frequency mechanical vibration (MV), static magnetic field (SMF), extremely low frequency electromagnetic field (ELF EMF...

Conidial germination of Colletotrichum gloeosporioides and Dothiorella aromatica was affected by temperature. The optimal temperature for germination was between 25 and 30°C. No germination occurred at 5 and at 40°C respectively. C. gloeosporioides produced appressoria in vitro while D. aromatica produced long germ tubes without appressoria. Appresorium formation was more sensitive to temperatu...