Wet-season dormancy release in seed banks of a tropical leguminous shrub is determined by wet heat.

Background And Aims: Hard-seeded (physical) dormancy is common among plants, yet mechanisms for dormancy release are poorly understood, especially in the tropics. The following questions are asked: (a) whether dormancy release in seed banks of the tropical shrub Parkinsonia aculeata (Caesalpiniaceae) is determined by wet heat (incubation under wet, warm to hot, conditions); and (b) whether its effect is modified by microclimate.

Methods: A seed burial trial was conducted in the wet-dry tropics (northern Australia) to compare dormancy release across different habitats (open, artificial cover, ground cover and canopy cover), burial depths (0, 3 and 20 cm) and burial durations (2, 6 and 14 weeks). Results were compared with predictions using a laboratory-derived relationship between wet heat and dormancy release, and microclimate data collected during the trial.

Key Results: Wet heat (defined as the soil temperature above which seeds were exposed to field capacity or higher for a cumulative total of 24 h) was 43.6 degrees C in the 0 cm open treatment, and decreased with increasing shade and depth to 29.5 degrees C at 20 cm under canopy cover. The dormancy release model showed that wet heat was a good predictor of the proportion of seeds remaining dormant. Furthermore, dormancy release was particularly sensitive to wet heat across the temperature range encountered across treatments. This resulted in a 16-fold difference in dormancy levels between open (<5 % of seeds still dormant) and covered (82 %) microhabitats.

Conclusions: These results demonstrate that wet heat is the principal dormancy release mechanism for P. aculeata when conditions are hot and wet. They also highlight the potential importance of microclimate in driving the population dynamics of such species.