Posidonia oceanica seeds from drift origin: Viability, germination and early plantlet development
Recruitment ofPosidonia oceanicafrom seeds is infre-quent owing to the rare and unpredictable occurrence ofsexual reproduction. However, in years of high reproduc-tive success, ample supplies of seeds become availablein drifting fruit; this could be a useful source of materialfor seabed restoration. In this study we introduce andcombine viability tests and culture procedures for eval-uating this material. Three different groups of collectedfruitsrepresentingaphenologicalormaturationsequence were tested for seed viability with tetrazolium.We also examined the effects of storage on the germ-ination and development of seedling root and shootsystems. The younger groups showed good (67–86%)germination and survival, with the tetrazolium viabilitytest proving useful for predicting these processes. How-ever, although a strong correlation between fruit andseed weight was observed, higher values of these para-meters did not confer greater germination capacity. Theseeds of fruits collected late in the season were moredeveloped and plantlet roots and shoots grew fasterunder culture, but survival after 4 weeks was reduced(40%). Under the conditions tested, viability was highlyreduced and there was no final seedling survival follow-ing storage.
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | artículo biblioteca |
| Published: |
Walter de Gruyter
2008
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| Subjects: | Posidonia oceanica, Seagrass, Seed, Seedling, Viability, |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10261/251076 |
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