Seed Germination and Environmental Cues
A special issue of Seeds (ISSN 2674-1024).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (28 February 2023) | Viewed by 20265
Special Issue Editors
Interests: seed biology; seed ecology; seed dormancy; modeling; seed development and production
Interests: seed dormancy; seed germination; biogeography of seed dormancy; evolution of seed dormancy
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
It has been at least 350 million years since the first ovule (Elkinsia) appeared on earth, and a strong selection factor for the evolution of seeds has been the control of timing of germination so that it occurs when environmental conditions are favorable for seedling survival and growth. If seeds germination at the beginning of the favorable period for plant growth, seedlings will have the whole period in which to grow and become established. Timing of germination is controlled by two factors: seeds have become nondormant and their germination requirements, e.g. light/dak, mositure, temerpature and other environmental cues such as ethylene, exudate from host roots or chemicals from fire are present in the habitat. Changes in temperature and soil moisture with the changing seasons can act as environmental cues to promote dormancy-break and the initiation of germination. Photoblastic seeds, such as those of many weeds, require light to germination. In several forest species, fire can be a cue that breaks the physical dormancy of seeds and germination occurs in an open canopy without competition. Some seeds will germinate after passing through the digestive tract of an animal that can act as a cue to start germination.
There are still mysteries about how/what environmental cues can help seeds detect the right time to germinate. Thus, the purpose and scope of this Special Issue are to encourage the publication of review and/or experimental studies on ecology, physiology, biochemistry, and molecular biology related to the effect of environmental cues on the breaking seed dormancy and promotion of germination.
Dr. Elias Soltani
Prof. Dr. Carol Baskin
Prof. Dr. José Luis González Andújar
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- dormncy-break
- endozoochory
- fire
- light
- modeling
- moisture
- seed dispersal
- seed dormancy
- seed germination
- temprature