Seed Germination in Desert Plants

1. Front Matter

   Pages I-XIII

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2. The Negev Desert of Israel and Other Hot Deserts of the World: Classification According to Quantities, Distribution and Seasons of Rain. Their Influences on the Germination of Desert Plants

   • Yitzchak Gutterman

   Pages 1-23

3. Phenotypic Effects on Seeds During Development

   • Yitzchak Gutterman

   Pages 25-77

4. Seed Dispersal and Seed Predation of Plant Species in the Negev Desert

   • Yitzchak Gutterman

   Pages 79-144

5. Storage Conditions Affecting the Germinability of Seeds in the Seed Bank

   • Yitzchak Gutterman

   Pages 145-167

6. Environmental Factors During Seed Imbibition Affecting Germination

   • Yitzchak Gutterman

   Pages 169-206

7. Germination, the Survival of Seedlings and Competition

   • Yitzchak Gutterman

   Pages 207-223

8. Conclusion

   • Yitzchak Gutterman

   Pages 225-230

9. Back Matter

   Pages 231-253

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During germination, the most resistant stage of the life cycle - the seed - changes to the most sensitive stage, namely the seedling. Therefore, in desert plant species seed dispersal and subsequent germination in the optimum time an place place are particularly critical parameters. Discussed here are the ways and means by which desert plants have adapted through the course of evolution to their extreme environment. Two such strategies which have evolved are a) plants with relatively large and protected seeds which germinate when the chance of seedling survival is high and the risk relatively low or b) those with an opportunistic strategy: minute seeds which germinate after low rainfall under high risk for seedling survival if additional rain does not follow. Most species adopt a combination of the two mechanisms. Species have adapted both genotypically and phenotypically, both aspects of which are also discussed in this thorough text. The reader is provided with a good understanding of the complex influences on each seed traced through from initial development to germination stage regarding germination preparation and subsequent survival.

• Germination, Seeds
• Keimung
• Keimung, Samen
• Negev
• Samen
• Seeds
• Wüste
• desert
• development
• environment
• evolution
• plant
• plants

"This work represents a valuable addition to the botanical literature and can be regarded as the first comprehensive publication on the subject." The Quarterly Review of Biology

• Jacob Blaustein Institute for Desert Research and Department of Life Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel

  Yitzchak Gutterman

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