EFFECTS OF BURIAL BY SAND ON SEED GERMINATION AND SEEDLING EMERGENCE OF FOUR DUNE SPECIES |
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Authors: | M A Maun J Lapierre |
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Institution: | Department of Plant Sciences, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, N6A 5B7 Canada |
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Abstract: | On the beach strand, seedlings of Cakile edentula, Elymus canadensis, and Corispermum hyssopifolium emerged from mean depths of 3.4, 3.5 and 3.0 cm, respectively. The frequency distribution of the depth of seedling emergence was 1) significantly leptokurtic for C. edentula and slightly platykurtic (not significant) for C. hyssopifolium and E. canadensis, and 2) significantly skewed to the right for C. edentula and E. canadensis but not for C. hyssopifolium. The total germination was not influenced by the burial of seeds at 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 cm depths except in Ammophila breviligulata in which the germination decreased with increasing depth of burial. The rate of emergence and total emergence decreased with increased sowing depth for all four plant species. Species with larger seeds emerged from deeper burial treatments than those with small seeds. The order of ED50 (the planting depth from which 50% of the seedlings emerged) and EDmax (the maximum depth from which a seedling emerged) was C. edentula (upper seeds) > E. canadensis > C. edentula (lower seeds) ≖ C. hyssopifolium > A. breviligulata and it coincided with weight per seed. |
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