Abstract
We conducted an investigation into the germination of seeds from individual Populus euphratica trees of different ages and growing conditions in order to discover the effect of intraspecific factors on their sexual reproduction in the Ejina Oasis, Inner Mongolia of China. By carrying out germination experiments of seeds collected at various seed dispersal periods, we found that P. euphratica seeds could be germinated intensively within 8 h from the start of the experiments, that the germination percentage decreased with the time of seed dispersal and that the germination percentage of seeds collected at the early stage of seed dispersal was 1.86 times greater than those collected at the final stage. There was no significant difference in the germination percentage or the germination index between seeds collected at the early and peak stages. The vitality of seeds from the mature forest was clearly higher than that of the half-mature and near-mature forests. The rate of branch dieback only affected seed germination at the final stage. Therefore, we conclude that the mature P. euphratica forest was the main contributor to reproduction. The results show that both the time of seed harvest and stand age were the main factors affecting the germination percentage of P. euphratica seeds.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bewley D J. 1997. Seed germination and dormancy. Plant Cell, 9: 1055–1066
Cao D C, Li J W, Chen W Q, Peng C, Li J Q. 2009a. Development and growth of rot suckers of Populus euphratica in different forest gaps in Ejina Oasis. Acta Ecol Sin, 29(4): 1954–1961 (in Chinese with English abstract)
Cao D C, Li J W, Chen W Q, Li J Q. 2009b. Study on temporal heterogeneity of seed rain of Populus euphratica in Ejina Oasis, China. Eur J Forest Res, 12(1): 1–8
Gao R R, Huang P Y, Zhang R H. 2004. Studies on seeds germination and adaptability mechanism of Populus euphratica seedlings. J Huaibei Ind Teach Coll (Nat Sci Edn), 25(2): 47–50 (in Chinese with English abstract)
Gao R H. 2000. Discuss Populus euphratica forest of Ejina ecological effectiveness and protect countermeasure. J Arid Land Res Environ, 14(5): 74–78 (in Chinese with English abstract)
Hua P. 2003. Studies on seed germination and seedling early growth of Populus euphratica on the flood plain. Environ Prot Xinjiang, 25(4): 14–17 (in Chinese with English abstract)
Kürschner H. 2004. Phytosociological studies in the Alashan Gobi-A contribution to the flora and vegetation of Inner Mongolia (NW China). Phytocoenologia, 34(2): 169–224
Li J Q, Cui G F. 2000. On nature forest protection and degraded ecosystem restoration in Northwest China. J Beijing Forest Univ, 22(4): 1–7 (in Chinese with English abstract)
Li J Y. 2010. Effects of salt on the growth and photosynthetic characteristics of Populus euphratica seedlings. J Desert Res, 30(1): 80–86 (in Chinese)
Li L. 2005. Effects of salinity and water potential on seed germination and radicle growth of riparian Populus euphratica. Arid Zone Res, 22(4): 520–524 (in Chinese)
Liu J P, Li Z J, He L R. 2004. Salt-tolerance of Populus euphratica and P. pruinosa seeds during germination. Sci Silv Sin, 40(2): 165–169 (in Chinese with English abstract)
Liu Z L, Zhu Z Y, Hao D Y. 2002. The mountain-basin complex of Heihe River and resource-environment safety of oasis zone in the lower reaches. J Nat Res, 17(3): 286–293 (in Chinese with English abstract)
Monda Y, Miki N, Yoshikawa K. 2008. Stand structure and regeneration of Populus euphratica forest in the lower reaches of the Heihe River, NW China. Landsc Ecol Eng, 4: 115–124
Sun X X, Kang X Y. 1993. Research on asexual reproduction of Populus euphratica. J Gansu Forest Sci Technol, 1: 27–30 (in Chinese)
Thevs N. 2005. Tugay vegetation in the middle reaches of the Tarim River-vegetation types and their ecology. Arch Nat Conserv Landsc Res, 44: 63–84
Wang G X, Cheng G D. 2000. The spatial pattern and influence caused by water resources in arid desert oases. Acta Ecol Sin, 20(3): 363–368 (in Chinese with English abstract)
Wang S J, Chen B H, Li H Q. 1995. Forests of Populus euphratica. Beijing: Environmental Science Press of China (in Chinese)
Wu F P, Li J Q, Li J W, Cheng C L, Wang X H. 2008. The characteristics of root suckers of Populus euphratica Oliv. in three habitats of Ejina Oasis. Acta Ecol Sin, 28(10): 4703–4709 (in Chinese with English abstract)
Zhang Y B, Li J W, Zhang H, Li J Q, Wu P, Zhao J. 2005. Analysis on the factors cause the failure of Populus euphratica sexual regeneration in nature. Sci Technol Eng, 5(8): 467–472 (in Chinese with English abstract)
Zhong Z C. 1995. Reproductive strategies of plant populations. Chin J Ecol, 14: 37–42 (in Chinese with English abstract)
Zhou W L, Yang X Q, Hao P, Liu Q W. 2010. Plant diversity and its maintenance in Populus euphratica riparian forests in the Ejina Oasis, China. Forest Stud China, 12(2): 55–61
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Liu, Qw., Hao, P., Li, Jw. et al. Effect of stand age and individual growth on seed germination of Populus euphratica in the Ejina Oasis, China. For. Stud. China 13, 183–188 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11632-011-0301-9
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11632-011-0301-9