Optimal Long-term Seed Storage Conditions for the Endangered Seagrass Implications for Habitat Conservation and Restoration

Overview

Journal Plant Methods

Publisher Biomed Central

Specialty Biology

Date 2020 Jan 1

PMID 31889982

Citations 2

Authors

Shidong Yue

Yu Zhang

Yi Zhou

Shaochun Xu

Shuai Xu

Xiaomei Zhang

Ruiting Gu

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: Seagrass meadows are recognized as critical and among the most vulnerable habitats on the planet. The alarming rates of decline in seagrass meadows have attracted the attention globally. There is an urgent need to develop techniques to restore and preserve these vital coastal ecosystems. So far little work has been done to develop effective long-term storage method for seagrass seeds. The seagrass Asch. & Graebn is an endangered species in its native range. Here we utilized combinations of different storage times, salinities, and temperature to determine the most appropriate conditions for optimal seed storage.

Results: seeds were strongly desiccation sensitive, with a complete loss of viability after 24 h of desiccation. Therefore, long periods of exposure to air should be avoided to minimize seed mortality. In addition, seeds could not endure freezing conditions such as - 5 °C. However, our results indicated that reduced storage temperature to 0 °C could effectively prolong the duration of dormancy of seeds. Seeds stored at 0 °C under a salinity of 40-60 psu showed relatively low seed loss, high seed vigor and fast seed germination, suggesting these to be optimal seed storage conditions. For example, after storage for 540 days (ca. 600 days since the seed collection from reproductive shoots in early October, 2016) at 0 °C under a salinity of 50 psu, seeds still had a considerable vigor, i.e. 57.8 ± 16.8%.

Conclusion: Our experiments demonstrated that seeds stored at 0 °C under a salinity of 40-60 psu could effectively prolong the duration of dormancy of seeds. The proposed technique is a simple and effective long-term storage method for seeds, which can then be used to aid future conservation, restoration and management of these sensitive and ecologically important habitat formers. The findings may also serve as useful reference for seed storage of other threatened seagrass species and facilitate their ex situ conservation and habitat restoration.

Citing Articles

Using transplantation to restore seagrass meadows in a protected South African lagoon.

Watson K, Pillay D, von der Heyden S PeerJ. 2023; 11:e16500.

PMID: 38047028 PMC: 10693235. DOI: 10.7717/peerj.16500.

Insights into the regulation of energy metabolism during the seed-to-seedling transition in marine angiosperm L.: Integrated metabolomic and transcriptomic analysis.

Zhu M, Zang Y, Zhang X, Shang S, Xue S, Chen J Front Plant Sci. 2023; 14:1130292.

PMID: 36968358 PMC: 10036900. DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1130292.

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