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Chemical effects of a dominant grass on seed germination of four familial pairs of dry grassland species

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 December 2008

Eszter Ruprecht ,
Tobias W. Donath ,
Annette Otte  and
R. Lutz Eckstein
Eszter Ruprecht*
Affiliation:
Department of Taxonomy and Ecology, Babeş-Bolyai University, Republicii street 42, RO-400015Cluj Napoca, Romania
Tobias W. Donath
Affiliation:
Department of Landscape Ecology and Resource Management, Interdisciplinary Research Centre, Justus-Liebig-University Gießen, Heinrich-Buff-Ring 26-32, DE-35392Gießen, Germany
Annette Otte
Affiliation:
Department of Landscape Ecology and Resource Management, Interdisciplinary Research Centre, Justus-Liebig-University Gießen, Heinrich-Buff-Ring 26-32, DE-35392Gießen, Germany
R. Lutz Eckstein
Affiliation:
Department of Landscape Ecology and Resource Management, Interdisciplinary Research Centre, Justus-Liebig-University Gießen, Heinrich-Buff-Ring 26-32, DE-35392Gießen, Germany
*
*Correspondence Fax: +40 264431858 Email: ruprecht@grbot.ubbcluj.ro
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Abstract

Community composition and ecosystem processes during succession may be driven partly by traits of plant species that attain dominance. Here, we addressed the hypothesis that Stipa pulcherrima, the dominant grass of abandoned continental grasslands, controls seedling recruitment of co-occurring species through chemical effects of its litter. Eight species with successful and unsuccessful recruitment under field conditions were selected (four familial pairs) to study experimentally the effects of leaf leachate under four temperature regimes. Since fungi developed in leachate-treated Petri dishes, in another experiment seeds were surface sterilized to remove confounding effects of fungi on recruitment. Leachate affected various stages of seedling recruitment: it significantly reduced seed germination (by 33–94%) and radicle elongation, and it delayed germination of seedlings of all species. In two families, species with unsuccessful field recruitment were more negatively affected than the successful ones. In a third family, the species with successful recruitment was more negatively affected, and in the fourth there were no differences. Similar germination responses after exclusion of fungi through seed-surface sterilization suggested that leachate was responsible for the observed effects on recruitment. Besides other traits and physical/microclimatic effects of accumulating litter, S. pulcherrima influences plant community dynamics and may potentially affect ecosystem processes through its secondary compounds.

Keywords

allelochemicalsallelopathycommunity dynamicsfungiradicle lengthseedling establishmentStipa grasslandStipa pulcherrima
Type
Research Article
Information
Seed Science Research , Volume 18 , Issue 4 , December 2008 , pp. 239 - 248
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

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