Growth responses of seedlings produced by parent seeds from specific altitudes
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Growth responses of seedlings produced by parent seeds from specific altitudes Valasia Iakovoglou1 · Ioannis Takos1 · Georgia Pantazi1 · Aikaterini Pipsou1 · Maria Neofotistou1
Received: 11 January 2018 / Accepted: 19 April 2018 © The Author(s) 2019
Abstract Restoration activities in semi-arid Mediterranean areas like Greece face many obstacles, such as summer droughts that are becoming more intense with climate change, that pose limitations to transplanting success. Seedlings for restoration must be of high quality; a vigorous root system is critical to enable seedlings to tolerate adverse conditions. Here we investigated the effects of altitude and source parent for seeds on the growth of subsequent seedlings to determine the best seed sources for obtaining highest-quality, most-tolerant seedlings for restoration efforts. Seeds of Quercus coccifera L. were collected on an altitudinal gradient of 50 m (200, 250 and 300 m a.s.l.) and from specific parents at each altitude. Subsequent seedlings were grown for 3 months in a greenhouse with controlled irrigation. The results indicated a strong altitudinal and parental seed effect on seedling characteristics. As altitude decreased, biomass of the seedlings increased, and they developed more vigorous roots and more photosynthetic leaf tissue. Thus, altitude and parent are critical factors to consider when producing seed-derived seedling. By collecting seeds from a specific altitude and parent, more vigorous and stresstolerant seedlings can be obtained to enhance transplanting success.
The online version is available at http://www.springerlink.com Corresponding editor: Zhu Hong. * Valasia Iakovoglou [email protected] 1
Department of Forestry and Natural Environment Management, Eastern Macedonia and Thrace Institute of Technology (EMaTTECH), 66100 Drama, Greece
Keywords Climate change · Conservation · Nursery practices · Regeneration · Seedling physiology
Introduction Reforestation efforts in semi-arid Mediterranean areas such as Greece are usually associated with high mortality levels, mainly due to intense and frequent drought events, especially during the summer. Such drought events have been predicted to increase in severity and duration at an alarming level (Xoplaki et al. 2005; Lionello et al. 2006; IPCC 2013). Climate change is thus expected not only to pose obstacles to reforestation efforts (Villar-Salvador et al. 1999; Rude 2007) and the growth of the species (Olivar et al. 2015), but also to threaten the species existence when they cannot adapt quickly to abrupt climatic alterations (Gritti et al. 2006; Allen et al. 2010; Thomas and Garcia-Marti 2015). The ecological responses of a species to adapt and perpetuate is associated with a shift in its distributional range toward higher latitudes and altitudes (Korpel et al. 1982; Peṅuelas and Boada 2003; Saha et al. 2016). Specific characteristics such as vigorous roots enable seedlings to overcome transplanting stress that is usually associated with water deficit, a common problem
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