"How plastic germination favors plant diversity"Daval, AmaëlPlant seeds have the capacity to enter a dormant state and germinate primarily at favorable conditions. The ability for environment-dependent seed germination is called germination plasticity. Temperature and water availability are often described by empirical studies as the main environmental conditions for plastic germination. However, a comprehensive understanding of how plastic seed germination affects the evolution of plant diversity is missing. We use mathematical modelling and individual-based simulations to explore how germination plasticity affects biological diversity with spatial and temporal environmental variation. We find that germination plasticity broadens the range of conditions favoring plant diversity, and we investigate how this varies with seedbank properties and migration rates between habitats. Germination plasticity not only leads to greater local and regional plant diversity, but could also favor an additional kind of diversity: variation in the plant composition between years. This work advances our understanding of conditions favoring biological diversity and might improve our interpretation of empirical data. |
« back