Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T01:26:24.336Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Phenotypic germination plasticity related to caryopsis size in Schismus arabicus

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 February 2007

Yitzchak Gutterman
Yitzchak Gutterman*
Affiliation:
Unit for Ecophysiology and Introduction of Desert Plants, Wyler Department of Drylands Agriculture, Jacob Blaustein Institute for Desert Research, and Department of Life Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sede Boker Campus 84990, Israel
*
*Correspondence Fax: 972-8-6596742 Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Schismus arabicus is a common annual grass occurring in the Negev Desert of Israel. Under unpredictable distribution and very small amounts of rain, as well as massive seed predation, this species has developed complementary sets of survival strategies that are influenced by biotic and abiotic environmental factors. One of these strategies is the phenotypic germination plasticity due to distinct caryopsis size groups. These groups occur in different percentages in the seed population, according to plant age at the time of seed development and maturation, but are not influenced by photoperiod. The size of the tiny, dust-like caryopses has an influence on the range of temperatures required for germination, the speed of germination and the final germination percentage reached between 5 and 30°C. These survival characteristics contribute to making S. arabicus one of the most common annual plant species in large areas of the Saharo-Arabian deserts and Irano-Turanian regions.

Keywords

caryopsis sizephenotypic plasticitySchismus arabicusspeed of germinationtemperature
Type
Short Communication
Information
Seed Science Research , Volume 11 , Issue 2 , June 2001 , pp. 173 - 178
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2001

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Evenari, M. (1985) The desert environment. pp. 1–22in Evenari, M.; Noy-Meir, I.; Goodall, D.W. (Eds) Ecosystems of the world, Vol 12A. Hot deserts and arid shrublands. Amsterdam, Elsevier.Google Scholar
Evenari, M. and Gutterman, Y. (1976) Observations on the secondary succession of three plant communities in the Negev desert, Israel. I. Artemisietum herbae albae. pp. 57–86in Jacques, R. (Ed.) Hommage au Prof. P. Chouard. Etudes de biologie vegetale. Gif sur Yvette, Paris, CNRS.Google Scholar
Feinbrun-Dothan, N. (1986) Flora Palestina, Part Four – Text. Jerusalem, Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities.Google Scholar
Friedman, J., Gunderman, N. and Ellis, M. (1978) Water response of the hygrochastic skeletons of the true rose of Jericho (Anastatica hierochuntica L.). Oecologia 32, 289–301.Google Scholar
Gozlan, S. and Gutterman, Y. (1999) Dry storage temperatures, duration, and salt concentrations affect germination of local and edaphic ecotypes of Hordeum spontaneum (Poaceae) from Israel. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 67, 163–180.Google Scholar
Gutterman, Y. (1972) Delayed seed dispersal and rapid germination as survival mechanisms of the desert plant Blepharis persica (Burm.) Kuntze. Oecologia 10, 145–149.Google Scholar
Gutterman, Y. (1982) Survival mechanisms of desert winter annual plants in the Negev Highlands of Israel. pp. 249–283in Mann, H.S. (Ed.) Scientific reviews on arid zone research 1. Jodhpur, India, Scientific Publishers.Google Scholar
Gutterman, Y. (1986) Are plants which germinate and develop during winter in the Negev Desert Highlands of Israel, winter annuals? pp. 135–144in Dubinsky, Z.; Steinberger, Y. (Eds) Environmental quality and ecosystem stability, Vol. III/A. Ramat-Gan, Israel, Bar-Ilan University Press.Google Scholar
Gutterman, Y. (1989a) Schismus arabicus. pp. 564–568in Halevy, A.H. (Ed.) Handbook of flowering, Vol. VI. Boca Raton, Florida, CRC Press.Google Scholar
Gutterman, Y. (1989b) The importance of porcupine diggings for germination and establishment of desert annuals in the Negev desert highlands. pp. 413–421in Spanier, E.; Steinberger, Y.; Luria, M. (Eds) Environmental quality and ecosystem stability, Vol. IV-B. Jerusalem, ISEEQS Publishers.Google Scholar
Gutterman, Y. (1993) Seed germination in desert plants. Adaptations of desert organisms. Berlin, Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Gutterman, Y. (1994a) Strategies of seed dispersal and germination in plants inhabiting deserts. Botanical Review 60, 373–425.Google Scholar
Gutterman, Y. (1994b) In Memoriam – Michael Evenari and his desert. Seed dispersal and germination strategies of Spergularia diandra compared with some other desert annual plants inhabiting the Negev Desert of Israel. Israel Journal of Plant Sciences 42, 261–274.Google Scholar
Gutterman, Y. (1996a) Effect of day length during plant development and caryopsis maturation on flowering and germination, in addition to temperature during dry storage and light during wetting, of Schismus arabicus (Poaceae) in the Negev Desert, Israel. Journal of Arid Environments 33, 439–448.Google Scholar
Gutterman, Y. (1996b) Temperatures during storage, light and wetting, affecting caryopses germinability of Schismus arabicus, a common desert annual grass. Journal of Arid Environments 33, 73–85.Google Scholar
Gutterman, Y. (2000a) Environmental factors and evolution of survival strategies of annual plant species occurring in the Negev Desert, Israel. Plant Species Biology 15, 113–125.Google Scholar
Gutterman, Y. (2000b) Maternal effects on seeds during development. pp. 59–84in Fenner, M. (Ed.) Seeds: The ecology of regeneration in plant communities (2nd edition). Wallingford, CAB International.Google Scholar
Gutterman, Y. (2001a) Regeneration of plants in arid ecosystems resulting from patch disturbance. Dordrecht, Kluwer Academic Publishers.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gutterman, Y. (2001b) The drought tolerance of the dehydrated root of Schismus arabicus seedlings and regrowth after rehydration, affected by caryopsis size and duration of dehydration. Israel Journal of Plant Sciences (in press).Google Scholar
Gutterman, Y. and 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.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gutterman, Y. and Gozlan, S. (1998) Amounts of winter or summer rain triggering germination and ‘the point of no return’ of seedling desiccation tolerance, of some Hordeum spontaneum local ecotypes in Israel. Plant and Soil 204, 223–234.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gutterman, Y. and Gozlan, S. (1999) Afterripening, amounts of rain for germination, and seedling drought tolerance, of local and edaphic ecotypes of Hordeum spontaneum from Israel. pp. 419–439in Wasser, S.P. (Ed.) Evolutionary theory and processes: Modern perspectives. Dordrecht, Kluwer Academic Publishers.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gutterman, Y. and Shem-Tov, S. (1997a) Mucilaginous seed coat structure of Carrichtera annua and Anastatica hierochuntica from the Negev Desert highlands of Israel, and its adhesion to the soil crust. Journal of Arid Environments 35, 697–705.Google Scholar
Gutterman, Y. and Shem-Tov, S. (1997b) The efficiency of the strategy of mucilaginous seeds of some common annuals of the Negev adhering to the soil crust to delay collection by ants. Israel Journal of Plant Sciences 45, 317–327.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gutterman, Y., Witztum, A. and Evenari, M. (1967) Seed dispersal and germination in Blepharis persica (Burm.) Kuntze. Israel Journal of Botany 16, 213–234.Google Scholar
Loria, M. and Noy-Meir, I. (1979/1980) Dynamics of some annual populations in a desert loess plain. Israel Journal of Botany 28, 211–225.Google Scholar
Sokal, R.R. and Rohlf, F.J. (1995) Biometry (3rd edition). San Francisco, CA, Freeman.Google Scholar
Wallace, A., Rhoads, W.A. and Frolich, E.F. (1968) Behavior of Salaola as influenced by temperature, moisture, depth of planting and gamma irradiation. Agronomy Journal 60, 76–78.Google Scholar