Seed dormancy diversity of the mangrove plant community in Sri Lanka to assist in direct seeding and seedling transplanting restoration

Abstract

Mangroves are one of the most important ecosystems in the world being found in the tropical–subtropical belt. Despite their significance, they have been highly disturbed due to many anthropogenic and natural causes. A significant effort has been made to restore mangroves around the world. However, a lack of information on the seed biology of mangrove species has impeded restoration. Thus, this study aimed to produce a seed dormancy profile for selected plant species of mangroves in Sri Lanka. This profile would allow restoration ecologists to better understand what kinds of dormancy are present, how to alleviate dormancy and how to best stimulate germination to generate seedlings for nursery stock or out-planting. Mature fruits/seeds were collected from coastal zone mangroves in Sri Lanka. Germination and imbibition of non-scarified and manually scarified seeds and embryo:seed length (E:S) ratio of fresh and radicle-emerged seeds were evaluated to assess the class of dormancy. Of the 30 species, seeds from 12 (40%) were non-dormant and 18 (60%) were dormant. Three dormancy classes [physiological (PD), physical (PY) and morphophysiological (MPD)] and presence of epicotyl dormancy were identified. Among species producing dormant seeds, most of them showed PD (44%). PY, MPD and presence of epicotyl dormancy were represented by 28, 17 and 11% of the species, respectively. These findings aid practitioners to craft strategies to effectively break dormancy and germinate seeds for conservation and restoration activities of mangroves.