Effect of the Soil Matric Potential on the Germination Capacity of , and from Contrasting Geographical Origins.

As a consequence of the megadrought in Central Chile, it is expected that most of the distribution of woody species will be narrowed in the northern limits because of restrictions imposed by soil matric potential on seed germination. In this study, we analyzed the effect of the soil matric potential on seed germination and initial recruitment of the sclerophyllous species , and from contrasting geographic origins (i.e., seed sources). We evaluated the germination capacity (%) under different matric potentials (i.e., 0, -6, -33, -750 and -1250 kPa) for 100 days. Soil matric potential of -1250 kPa negatively affected the germination capacity of the three species. seeds stopped germinating under soil matric potential close to -1200 kPa, whereas in and the complete inhibition of germination was under -1000 kPa. Seed sources also differed in their germination capacity by soil matric potential: northern seed sources of germinated with the lowest soil matric potential. There was no clear trend in and . but in general, southern seed sources performed better than the northern ones. The results showed that Ѱ in the soil played an important role in the germinative capacity against different seed source origins, but not in soils with a north-south gradient.