The role of maternal age, growth, and environment in shaping offspring performance in an aerial conifer seed bank

Abstract

Premise Maternal effects have been demonstrated to affect offspring performance in many organisms, and in plants, seeds are important mediators of these effects. Some woody plant species maintain long‐lasting canopy seed banks as an adaptation to wildfires. Importantly, these seeds stored in serotinous cones are produced by the mother plant under varying ontogenetic and physiological conditions. Methods We sampled the canopy seed bank of a highly serotinous population of Pinus pinaster to test whether maternal age and growth and the environmental conditions during each crop year affected seed mass and ultimately germination and early survival. After determining retrospectively the year of each seed cohort, we followed germination and early survival in a semi‐natural common garden. Results Seed mass was related to maternal age and growth at the time of seed production; i.e., slow‐growing, older mothers had smaller seeds, and fast‐growing, young mothers had larger seeds, which could be interpreted either as a proxy of senescence or as a maternal strategy. Seed mass had a positive effect on germination success, but aside from differences in seed mass, maternal age had a negative effect and diameter had a positive effect on germination timing and subsequent survival. Conclusions The results highlight the importance of maternal conditions combined with seed mass in shaping seedling establishment. Our findings open new insights in the offspring performance deriving from long‐term canopy seed banks, which may have high relevance for plant adaptation.

Genetic Diversity, Mating System, and Seed Viability Reveal a Trade-Off between Outcrossing and Inbreeding in Pinus yunnanensis var. tenuifolia, an Ecologically Important Conifer Species Growing in a Hot-Dry River Basin Habitat in Southwest China

“…No significant association between seed mass and germination capacity was detected in our study (Figure S3). It was compatible with some species [51,52,60] but inconsistent with others reported [60][61][62][63]. It indicates that the effect of seed mass on seed germination capacity is likely species-specific and has little effect on predicting seed germination capacity in PYT.…”