Hostname: page-component-8678677fb7-wnmm5 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-10-10T13:50:02.711Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Assessing tree germination resilience to global warming: a manipulative experiment using sugar maple (Acer saccharum)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 March 2016

Kevin A. Solarik ,
Dominique Gravel ,
Aitor Ameztegui ,
Yves Bergeron  and
Christian Messier
Kevin A. Solarik*
Affiliation:
Centre d’étude de la forêt (CEF), Département des sciences biologiques, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada H3P 3P8
Dominique Gravel
Affiliation:
Université du Québec à Rimouski, Département de biologie, chimie et géographie, 300 Alleée des Ursulines, Rimouski, Québec, Canada G5L 3A1
Aitor Ameztegui
Affiliation:
Centre d’étude de la forêt (CEF), Département des sciences biologiques, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada H3P 3P8 CREAF, Centre for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Catalonia E-08193, Spain Forest Sciences Centre of Catalonia (CEMFOR-CTFC), Ctra. Sant Llorenç de Morunys km.2, Solsona, Catalonia E-25280, Spain
Yves Bergeron
Affiliation:
Centre d’étude de la forêt (CEF), Département des sciences biologiques, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada H3P 3P8 Département des Sciences Biologiques, Chaire Industrielle CRSNG UQAT-UQAM en Aménagement Forestier Durable, Centre d'Etude de la Foret, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal, PQ, Canada
Christian Messier
Affiliation:
Centre d’étude de la forêt (CEF), Département des sciences biologiques, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada H3P 3P8 Département des Sciences naturelles, Institut des Sciences de la Forêt Tempérée (ISFORT), Université du Québec en Outaouais (UQO), Ripon, PQ, Canada, J0V 1V0
*
*Correspondence Email: kevinsolarik@hotmail.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A climate warming of 2–5°C by the end of the century will impact the likelihood of seed germination of sugar maple (Acer saccharum), a dominant tree species which possesses a restricted temperature range to ensure successful reproduction. We hypothesize that seed origin affects germination due to the species' local adaptation to temperature. We tested this by experimentally investigating the effect of incubation temperature and temperature shifting on sugar maple seed germination from seven different seed sources representing the current species range. Survival analysis showed that seeds from the northern range had the highest germination percentage, while the southern range had the lowest. The mean germination percentage under constant temperatures was best when temperatures were ≤5°C, whereas germination percentages plummeted at temperatures ≥11°C (5.8%). Cool shifting increased germination by 19.1% over constant temperature treatments and by 29.3% over warm shifting treatments. Both shifting treatments caused earlier germination relative to the constant temperature treatments. A climate warming of up to +5°C is shown to severely reduce germination of seeds from the southern range. However, under a more pronounced warming of 7°C, seed germination at the northern range become more affected and now comparable to those found from the southern range. This study states that the high seed germination percentage found in sugar maple at the northern range makes it fairly resilient to the warmest projected temperature increase for the next century. These findings provide forest managers with the necessary information to make accurate projections when considering strategies for future regeneration while also considering climate warming.

Keywords

Acer saccharumclimate changeclimate warmingseed germinationstratificationsugar mapletemperature

Information

Type
Research Papers
Information
Seed Science Research , Volume 26 , Issue 2 , June 2016 , pp. 153 - 164
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Baskin, J.M. and Baskin, C.C. (2004) A classification system for seed dormancy. Seed Science Research 14, 1–16.Google Scholar
Beckage, B., Osborne, B., Gavin, D.G., Pucko, C., Siccama, T. and Perkins, T. (2008) A rapid upward shift of forest ecotone during 40 years of warming in the Green Mountains of Vermont. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 105, 4173–4202.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bekryaev, R.V., Polyakov, I.V. and Alexeev, V.A. (2010) Role of polar amplification in long-term surface air temperature variations and modern Arctic warming. Journal of Climate 23, 3888–3906.Google Scholar
Berkowitz, A.R., Canham, C.D. and Kelly, V.R. (1995) Competition vs. facilitation of tree seedling growth and survival in early successional communities. Ecology 76, 1156–1168.Google Scholar
Blanquart, F., Kaltz, O., Nuismer, S. and Gandon, S. (2013) A practical guide to measuring local adaptation. Ecology Letters 16, 1195–1205.Google Scholar
Bradford, K.J. (1995) Water relations in seed germination. pp. 351–396 in Kigel, K.J.; Galili, G. (Eds) Seed development and germination. New York, Marcel Dekker.Google Scholar
Caspersen, J.P. and Saprunoff, M. (2005) Seedling recruitment in a northern temperate forest: the relative importance of supply and establishment limitation. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 35, 978–989.Google Scholar
Chen, I.-C., Hill, J.K., Ohlemüller, R., Roy, D.B. and Thomas, C.D. (2011) Rapid range shifts of species associated with high levels of climate warming. Science 333, 1024–1026.Google Scholar
Chuine, I. and Beaubien, E. (2001) Phenology is a major determinant of tree species range. Ecology Letters 4, 500–510.Google Scholar
Dangleish, H.J., Koons, D.N. and Adler, P.B. (2010) Can life-history traits predict the response of forb populations to changes in climate variability? Journal of Ecology 98, 209–217.Google Scholar
Decker, K.L.M., Wang, D., Waite, C. and Scherbatskoy, T. (2003) Snow removal and ambient air temperature effects on forest soil temperatures in northern Vermont. Soil Science of America Journal 67, 1234–1243.Google Scholar
Drescher, M. (2014) Snow manipulations and passive warming affect post-winter seed germination: a case study of three cold-temperate tree species. Climate Research 60, 175–186.Google Scholar
Ellis, R.H., Hong, T.D. and Roberts, E.H. (1985) Handbook of seed technology for genebanks. Principles and methodology. Rome, International Board for Plant Genetic Resources.Google Scholar
Enu-Kwesi, L. and Dumbroff, E.B. (1980) Changes in phenolic inhibitors in seeds of Acer saccharum during stratification. Journal of Experimental Botany 31, 425–436.Google Scholar
Feng, S., Hu, Q., Huang, W., Ho, C-H., Li, R. and Tang, Z. (2014) Projected climate regime shift under future global warming from multi-model, multi scenario CMIP5 simulations. Global and Planetary Change 114, 41–52.Google Scholar
FPAQ (2016) Fédération des producteurs acéricoles du Québec. Available at http://fpaq.ca/en/federation/production/statistics (accessed 15 February 2016).Google Scholar
Godman, R.M., Yawney, H.W. and Tubbs, C.H. (1990) Acer saccharum Marsh., sugar maple. pp. 78–91 in Burns, R.M.; Honkala, B.H. (Eds) Silvics of North America, vol. 2, Hardwoods. Agricultural Handbook 654. Washington, DC, USDA Forest Service.Google Scholar
Goldblum, D. and Rigg, L.S. (2005) Tree growth response to climate change at the deciduous–boreal forest ecotone, Ontario, Canada. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 35, 2709–2718.Google Scholar
Goldblum, D., Rigg, L.S. and Napoli, J.M. (2010) Environmental determinants of tree species distributions in central Ontario, Canada. Physical Geography 31, 423–440.Google Scholar
Graignic, N., Tremblay, F. and Bergeron, Y. (2014) Geographical variation in reproductive capacity of sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marshall) northern peripheral populations. Journal of Biogeography 41, 145–157.Google Scholar
Hedhly, A., Hormaza, J.I. and Herrero, M. (2009) Global warming and sexual plant reproduction. Trends in Plant Science 14, 30–36.Google Scholar
Hoeksema, J.D. and Forde, S.E. (2008) A meta-analysis of factors affecting local adaptation between interacting species. The American Naturalist 171, 275–290.Google Scholar
Hu, X.S. and He, F.L. (2006) Seed and pollen flow in expanding a species’ range. Journal of Theoretical Biology 240, 662–672.Google Scholar
Iverson, L.R. and Prasad, A.M. (2010) Predicting abundance of 80 tree species following climate change in the eastern United States. Ecological Monographs 68, 465–485.Google Scholar
Janerette, C.A. (1978a) An in vitro study of seed dormancy in sugar maple. Forest Science 24, 43–49.Google Scholar
Janerette, C.A. (1978b) A method of stimulating the germination of sugar maple seeds. Tree Planter's Notes 29, 7–8.Google Scholar
Janerette, C.A. (1979) Seed dormancy in sugar maple. Forest Science 25, 307–311.Google Scholar
Kharin, V., Zwiers, F.W., Zhang, X. and Hegerl, G.C. (2007) Changes in temperature and precipitation extremes in the IPCC ensemble of global coupled model simulations. Journal of Climate 20, 1419–1444.Google Scholar
Kremer, A., Ronce, O., Robledo-Arnucio, J.J., Guillaume, F., Bohrer, G., Nathan, R., Bridle, J.R., Gomulkiewicz, R., Klein, E.K., Ritland, K., Kuparinen, A., Gerber, S. and Schueler, S. (2012) Long distance gene flow and adaptation of forest trees to rapid climate change. Ecology Letters 15, 378–392.Google Scholar
Lenoir, J., Gégout, J.C., Marquet, P.A., de Ruffray, P. and Brisse, H. (2008) A significant upward shift in plant species optimum elevation during the 20th century. Science 320, 1768–1771.Google Scholar
Little, E.L. (1971) Atlas of United States trees, volume 1, conifers and important hardwoods. US Department of Agriculture Miscellaneous Publication 1146, 9 pp., 200 maps. Available at http://esp.cr.usgs.gov/data/little/ (accessed 15 February 2016).Google Scholar
Loarie, S.R., Duffy, P.B., Hamilton, H., Asner, G.P., Field, C.B. and Ackerly, D.D. (2009) The velocity of climate change. Nature 462, 1052–1055.Google Scholar
Maguire, J.D. (1984) Dormancy in seeds. pp. 25–60 in Thompson, J.R. (Ed.) Advances in research and technology of seeds, Part 9. Wageningen, The Netherlands, Centre for Agricultural Publishing and Documentation.Google Scholar
Mankin, J.S. and Diffenbaugh, N.S. (2015) Influence of temperature and precipitation variability on near-term snow trends. Climate Dynamics 45, 1099–1116.Google Scholar
Mayer, A.M. and Poljakoff-Mayber, A. (1975) The germination of seeds (2nd edition). Oxford, UK, Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
McCarragher, S.R., Goldblum, D. and Rigg, L.S. (2011) Geographic variation of germination, growth, and mortality in sugar maple (Acer saccharum): common garden and reciprocal dispersal experiments. Physical Geography 32, 1–21.Google Scholar
McKenney, D.W., Hutchinson, M.F., Papadopol, P., Lawerence, K., Pedlar, J., Campbell, K., Milewska, E., Hopinson, R.F., Price, D. and Owen, T. (2011) Customized spatial climate models for North America. American Meteorological Society 92, 1611–1622.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McNair, J.N., Sunkara, A. and Frobish, D. (2012) How to analyse seed germination data using statistical time-to-event analysis: non-parametric and semi-parametric methods. Seed Science Research 22, 77–95.Google Scholar
Morin, X., Viner, D. and Chuine, I. (2008) Tree species range shifts at a continental scale: new predictive insights from a process-based model. Journal of Ecology 96, 784–794.Google Scholar
Pérez, H.E. and Kettner, K. (2013) Characterizing Ipomopsis rubra (Polemoniaceae) germination under various thermal scenarios with non-parametric and semi-parametric statistical methods. Planta 238, 771–784.Google Scholar
R Development Core Team (2015) R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. Available at http://www.R-project.org (accessed 2 February 2016).Google Scholar
Sexton, J.P., McIntyre, P.J., Angert, A.L. and Rice, K.J. (2009) Evolution and ecology of species limits. Annual Reviews of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics 40, 415–436.Google Scholar
Shih, C.Y., Dumbroff, E.B. and Peterson, C.A. (1985) Developmental studies of the stratification-germination process in sugar maple embryos. Canadian Journal of Botany 63, 903–908.Google Scholar
Simmonds, J.A. and Dumbroff, E.B. (1974) High energy change as a requirement for axis elogation in response to gibberellic acid and kinetin during stratification of Acer saccharum seeds. Plant Physiology 53, 91–95.Google Scholar
Therneau, T. (2015) Survival analysis. R package version 2.38–3. Available at http://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/survival/index.html (accessed 2 February 2016).Google Scholar
Tremblay, F., Mauffette, Y. and Bergeron, Y. (1996) Germination responses of northern red maple (Acer rubrum) populations. Forest Science 42, 154–159.Google Scholar
Tubbs, C.H. (1965) Influence of temperature and early spring conditions on sugar maple and yellow birch germination in Upper Michigan. USDA Forest Service Research Note LS-72. Lake States Forest Experiment Station, St. Paul, Minnesota.Google Scholar
Walck, J.L., Hidayati, S., Dixon, K.W., Thompson, K. and Poschlod, P. (2011) Climate change and plant regeneration from seed. Global Change Biology 17, 2145–2161.Google Scholar
Walker, M.A., Roberts, D.R., Shih, C.Y. and Dumbroff, E.B. (1985) A requirement of polyamines during the cell division phase of radicle emergence in seeds of Acer saccharum . Plant and Cell Physiology 26, 967–971.Google Scholar
Webb, D.P. and Dumbroff, E.B. (1969) Factors influencing the stratification process in seeds of Acer saccharum . Canadian Journal of Botany 47, 1555–1563.Google Scholar
Yawney, H.W. and Carl, C.M. Jr (1974) Storage requirements for sugar maple seeds. USDA Forest Service Research Paper NE-298. Northeastern Forest Experiment Station, Upper Darby, Pennsylvania.Google Scholar
Zasada, J.C. and Strong, T.F. (2003) Aceraceae maple family: Acer L. Maple. pp. 1–24 in Bonner, F.T.; Nisley, R.G. (Eds) Woody plant seed manual. Washington, DC, USDA Forest Service.Google Scholar
Zhu, K., Woodall, C.W. and Clark, J.S. (2012) Failure to migrate: lack of tree range expansion in response to climate change. Global Change Biology 18, 1042–1052.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Solarik supplementary material

Figures S1-S3 and Tables S1-S25

Download Solarik supplementary material(File)
File 366.7 KB