Ecological role of light
- Key People:
- W. Atlee Burpee
- Related Topics:
- soil seed bank
- aril
- endosperm
- seed dormancy
- caruncle
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Laboratory experiments and field observations indicate that light is a main controller of seed dormancy in a wide array of species. The absence of light, for example, was found in one study to be responsible for the nongermination of seeds of 20 out of 23 weed species commonly found in arable soil. In regions of shifting sands, seeds of Russian thistle germinate only when the fruits are uncovered, often after a burial period of several years. Conversely, the seeds of Calligonum comosum and the melon Citrullus colocynthis, inhabiting coarse sandy soils in the Negev Desert, are strongly inhibited by light. The survival value of this response, which restricts germination to buried seeds, lies in the fact that at the surface fluctuating environmental conditions may rapidly create a very hostile microenvironment. The seeds of Artemisia monosperma have an absolute light requirement but respond to extremely low intensities, such as is transmitted by a 2-mm- (0.08-inch-) thick sand filter. In seeds buried too deeply, germination is prevented. The responsiveness to light, however, increases with the duration of water imbibition. Even when full responsiveness to light has been reached, maximal germination occurs only after several light-exposures are given at intervals. In the field, this combined response mechanism acts as an integrating (cumulative) rain gauge, because the seeds (as indicated) become increasingly responsive to light, and thus increasingly germinable, the longer the sand remains moistened.
Certain Juncus seeds have an absolute light requirement over a wide range of temperatures; consequently, they do not germinate under dense vegetation or in overly deep water. (Beneath dense canopies, seed germination is inhibited because the green leaves above intercept and absorb red light.) In combination with temperature, light (in the sense of day length) may also restrict germination to the most suitable time of year. In birch, for example, seeds that have not gone through a cold period after imbibing water remain dormant after release from the mother plant in the fall and will germinate only when the days begin to lengthen the next spring.
Stimulators and inhibitors of germination
A number of chemicals (potassium nitrate, thiourea, ethylene chlorhydrin, and karrikin) and plant hormones (gibberellins and kinetin) have been used experimentally to trigger germination. Their mode of action is obscure, but it is known that in some instances thiourea, gibberellin, kinetin, and karrikin can substitute for light.
Natural inhibitors that completely suppress germination (coumarin, parasorbic acid, ferulic acid, phenols, protoanemonin, transcinnamic acid, alkaloids, essential oils, and the plant hormone abscisic acid) may be present in the pulp or juice of fruits or in various parts of the seed. The effect of seed-coat phenols, for example, may be indirect; being highly oxidizable, they may screen out much-needed oxygen. Ecologically, such inhibitors are important in at least three ways. Their slow disappearance with time may spread germination out over several years (a protection against catastrophes). Furthermore, when leached out by rainwater, they often serve as agents inhibiting the germination of other competitive plants nearby. Finally, the gradual leaching out of water-soluble inhibitors serves as an excellent integrating rain gauge. Indeed, it has been shown that the germination of certain desert plants is not related to moisture as such but to soil water movement, i.e., to the amount and duration of rain received.
Hans Lambers
