Hauptinhalt

Seed longevity in storage

Stored seeds of wild plants represent a collection of plant genetic diversity, especially of endangered and wild species, and are valuable resources for species conservation, ecosystem restoration and evolutionary research. However, with longer storage periods, seeds inevitably deteriorate, and viability declines gradually over time. Chemical processes inside the seeds during storage can influence germination success, flowering phenology, and other plant traits (direct storage condition effects). In addition, seed mortality during storage is probably non-random, which would cause the loss of certain genotypes. This so-called invisible fraction was recently demonstrated in a model organism.

The extent to which both are of cross-species significance and particularly relevant for wild species with a high genetic variation thus a high susceptibility to selection is unknown. The proposed research project aims to use artificial seed ageing and common garden experiments to (1) record the intraspecific variability of seed longevity in storage, (2) evaluate the direct storage effects on the traits of plants grown from artificially aged seeds across many species, and (3) determine the evolutionary cange caused by non-random mortality during storage and it effects on plant traits across many species (invisible fraction)

Funded by : MARA stipendium

Involved: Lea Klepka, Sascha Liepelt, Anna Bucharova