Journal of Environmental BiologypISSN: 0254-8704 ; eISSN: 2394-0379 ; CODEN: JEBIDP |
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Abstract - Issue Oct 2006, 27 (4) BackSimulation of
germination of pioneer species along an experimental drought gradient Mar?a A. P?rez-Fern?ndez1,2, E. Calvo-Magro3? and D. Ferrer-Cast?n4 1Area de Ecolog?a, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Carretera
de Utrera, 41013 Sevilla, Spain 2Department of
Environmental Biology, 3Area
de Ecolog?a, Universidad de Extremadura,
Avenida de Elvas s/n, 06071
4?rea
de Ecolog?a, Universidad de Salamanca Campus Miguel (Received: 20 November, 2004 ; Accepted: 26 July, 2005) Abstract: The germination of
ten plant species from the Iberian Peninsula was assessed along a water deficit
gradient between -0.1652 (moist) and
-0.4988 MPa (dry) of osmotic potential, created by
addition of increasing concentrations of polyethylene glycol (PEG 6000) to
distilled water in which plants were grown hydroponically.
The level and rate of germination of Daucus
carota and Thapsia villosa significantly
decreased with decreasing Ψ. Seeds of Dactylis
glomerata and Dittrichia viscosa had
positive germination responses to low osmotic potentials; germination of Epilobium hirsutum was
not affected by osmotic potential. Germination of Medicago
arabica, Cynosurus cristatus,
Cistus ladanifer and
Cistus albidus,
was no favored by the addition of polyethylene glycol (PEG). Germination of Foeniculum vulgare and
Thapsia villosa was
inhibited by PEG. Key words: Drought tolerance, Generalized linear
models, Germination, Osmotic potential, PEG. Copyright
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