TY - JOUR

T1 - Variation in Germination Traits Inform Conservation Planning of Hawaiʻi's Foundational ʻŌhiʻa Trees

AU - Wolkis, Dustin

AU - Walsh, Seana K.

AU - Barnes, Christopher J.

AU - Stacy, Elizabeth A.

AU - Rønsted, Nina

PY - 2022

Y1 - 2022

N2 - Climate can play a critical role in seed development and germination. Linking seed germination information with environmental variables and provenance may be important in understanding plant community structure and response to climate change, which can help guide conservation planning. Native Hawaiian Metrosideros (Myrtaceae; Modified Letter Turned CommaOhiModified Letter Turned Commaa) is a hyperdiverse species complex that dominates HawaiModified Letter Turned Commai's wet and mesic forests and serves as the most bioculturally important native plant in HawaiModified Letter Turned Commai. In response to Rapid Modified Letter Turned CommaOhiModified Letter Turned Commaa Death, a major threat to native forests caused by introduced fungal pathogens, seed collections of Modified Letter Turned CommaOhiModified Letter Turned Commaa across the state have increased. We used initial seed germination data from recent collections stored in the National Tropical Botanical Garden's Seed Bank to explore if seed germinability is correlated with seed zones and environmental variables. Linear models of the proportion of seed germinated, seed zones, and environmental data revealed that only seed zones were significantly correlated with the proportion germinated. Seed germination was lower for the "Na Pali Valleys" than the "Windward Ranges." Generalized provisional seed zones are a helpful tool for conservation collecting and restoration planning. Germination data routinely collected for seed bank collections provide an easily accessible source of preliminary information for these purposes.

AB - Climate can play a critical role in seed development and germination. Linking seed germination information with environmental variables and provenance may be important in understanding plant community structure and response to climate change, which can help guide conservation planning. Native Hawaiian Metrosideros (Myrtaceae; Modified Letter Turned CommaOhiModified Letter Turned Commaa) is a hyperdiverse species complex that dominates HawaiModified Letter Turned Commai's wet and mesic forests and serves as the most bioculturally important native plant in HawaiModified Letter Turned Commai. In response to Rapid Modified Letter Turned CommaOhiModified Letter Turned Commaa Death, a major threat to native forests caused by introduced fungal pathogens, seed collections of Modified Letter Turned CommaOhiModified Letter Turned Commaa across the state have increased. We used initial seed germination data from recent collections stored in the National Tropical Botanical Garden's Seed Bank to explore if seed germinability is correlated with seed zones and environmental variables. Linear models of the proportion of seed germinated, seed zones, and environmental data revealed that only seed zones were significantly correlated with the proportion germinated. Seed germination was lower for the "Na Pali Valleys" than the "Windward Ranges." Generalized provisional seed zones are a helpful tool for conservation collecting and restoration planning. Germination data routinely collected for seed bank collections provide an easily accessible source of preliminary information for these purposes.

KW - collections

KW - conservation planning

KW - Hawaii

KW - Kauai

KW - Metrosideros polymorpha var

KW - glaberrima

KW - ohia

KW - seed germination

KW - seed zones

KW - METROSIDEROS-POLYMORPHA

KW - DROUGHT TOLERANCE

KW - DOMINANT TREE

KW - OHIA

KW - BIODIVERSITY

KW - MYRTACEAE

KW - RAINFALL

KW - CLIMATE

U2 - 10.1080/10549811.2021.1999272

DO - 10.1080/10549811.2021.1999272

M3 - Journal article

VL - 41

SP - 861

EP - 877

JO - Journal of Sustainable Forestry

JF - Journal of Sustainable Forestry

SN - 1054-9811

IS - 9

ER -