Accounting for variability when resurrecting dormant propagules substantiates their use in eco‐evolutionary studies

There has been a steady rise in the use of dormant propagules to study biotic responses to environmental change over time. This is particularly important for organisms that strongly mediate ecosystem processes, as changes in their traits over time can provide a unique snapshot into the structure and...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Vahsen, Megan L., Gentile, Rachel M., Summers, Jennifer L., Kleiner, Helena S., Foster, Benjamin, McCormack, Regina M., James, Evan W., Koch, Rachel A., Metts, Dailee L., Saunders, Colin, Megonigal, James Patrick, Blum, Michael J., McLachlan, Jason S.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8674891/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34950232
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/eva.13316
_version_ 1784615767167205376
author Vahsen, Megan L.
Gentile, Rachel M.
Summers, Jennifer L.
Kleiner, Helena S.
Foster, Benjamin
McCormack, Regina M.
James, Evan W.
Koch, Rachel A.
Metts, Dailee L.
Saunders, Colin
Megonigal, James Patrick
Blum, Michael J.
McLachlan, Jason S.
author_facet Vahsen, Megan L.
Gentile, Rachel M.
Summers, Jennifer L.
Kleiner, Helena S.
Foster, Benjamin
McCormack, Regina M.
James, Evan W.
Koch, Rachel A.
Metts, Dailee L.
Saunders, Colin
Megonigal, James Patrick
Blum, Michael J.
McLachlan, Jason S.
author_sort Vahsen, Megan L.
collection PubMed
description There has been a steady rise in the use of dormant propagules to study biotic responses to environmental change over time. This is particularly important for organisms that strongly mediate ecosystem processes, as changes in their traits over time can provide a unique snapshot into the structure and function of ecosystems from decades to millennia in the past. Understanding sources of bias and variation is a challenge in the field of resurrection ecology, including those that arise because often‐used measurements like seed germination success are imperfect indicators of propagule viability. Using a Bayesian statistical framework, we evaluated sources of variability and tested for zero‐inflation and overdispersion in data from 13 germination trials of soil‐stored seeds of Schoenoplectus americanus, an ecosystem engineer in coastal salt marshes in the Chesapeake Bay. We hypothesized that these two model structures align with an ecological understanding of dormancy and revival: zero‐inflation could arise due to failed germinations resulting from inviability or failed attempts to break dormancy, and overdispersion could arise by failing to measure important seed traits. A model that accounted for overdispersion, but not zero‐inflation, was the best fit to our data. Tetrazolium viability tests corroborated this result: most seeds that failed to germinate did so because they were inviable, not because experimental methods failed to break their dormancy. Seed viability declined exponentially with seed age and was mediated by seed provenance and experimental conditions. Our results provide a framework for accounting for and explaining variability when estimating propagule viability from soil‐stored natural archives which is a key aspect of using dormant propagules in eco‐evolutionary studies.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-8674891
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2021
publisher John Wiley and Sons Inc.
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-86748912021-12-22 Accounting for variability when resurrecting dormant propagules substantiates their use in eco‐evolutionary studies Vahsen, Megan L. Gentile, Rachel M. Summers, Jennifer L. Kleiner, Helena S. Foster, Benjamin McCormack, Regina M. James, Evan W. Koch, Rachel A. Metts, Dailee L. Saunders, Colin Megonigal, James Patrick Blum, Michael J. McLachlan, Jason S. Evol Appl Original Articles There has been a steady rise in the use of dormant propagules to study biotic responses to environmental change over time. This is particularly important for organisms that strongly mediate ecosystem processes, as changes in their traits over time can provide a unique snapshot into the structure and function of ecosystems from decades to millennia in the past. Understanding sources of bias and variation is a challenge in the field of resurrection ecology, including those that arise because often‐used measurements like seed germination success are imperfect indicators of propagule viability. Using a Bayesian statistical framework, we evaluated sources of variability and tested for zero‐inflation and overdispersion in data from 13 germination trials of soil‐stored seeds of Schoenoplectus americanus, an ecosystem engineer in coastal salt marshes in the Chesapeake Bay. We hypothesized that these two model structures align with an ecological understanding of dormancy and revival: zero‐inflation could arise due to failed germinations resulting from inviability or failed attempts to break dormancy, and overdispersion could arise by failing to measure important seed traits. A model that accounted for overdispersion, but not zero‐inflation, was the best fit to our data. Tetrazolium viability tests corroborated this result: most seeds that failed to germinate did so because they were inviable, not because experimental methods failed to break their dormancy. Seed viability declined exponentially with seed age and was mediated by seed provenance and experimental conditions. Our results provide a framework for accounting for and explaining variability when estimating propagule viability from soil‐stored natural archives which is a key aspect of using dormant propagules in eco‐evolutionary studies. John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2021-11-27 /pmc/articles/PMC8674891/ /pubmed/34950232 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/eva.13316 Text en © 2021 The Authors. Evolutionary Applications published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This article has been contributed to by US Government employees and their work is in the public domain in the USA. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Original Articles
Vahsen, Megan L.
Gentile, Rachel M.
Summers, Jennifer L.
Kleiner, Helena S.
Foster, Benjamin
McCormack, Regina M.
James, Evan W.
Koch, Rachel A.
Metts, Dailee L.
Saunders, Colin
Megonigal, James Patrick
Blum, Michael J.
McLachlan, Jason S.
Accounting for variability when resurrecting dormant propagules substantiates their use in eco‐evolutionary studies
title Accounting for variability when resurrecting dormant propagules substantiates their use in eco‐evolutionary studies
title_full Accounting for variability when resurrecting dormant propagules substantiates their use in eco‐evolutionary studies
title_fullStr Accounting for variability when resurrecting dormant propagules substantiates their use in eco‐evolutionary studies
title_full_unstemmed Accounting for variability when resurrecting dormant propagules substantiates their use in eco‐evolutionary studies
title_short Accounting for variability when resurrecting dormant propagules substantiates their use in eco‐evolutionary studies
title_sort accounting for variability when resurrecting dormant propagules substantiates their use in eco‐evolutionary studies
topic Original Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8674891/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34950232
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/eva.13316
work_keys_str_mv AT vahsenmeganl accountingforvariabilitywhenresurrectingdormantpropagulessubstantiatestheiruseinecoevolutionarystudies
AT gentilerachelm accountingforvariabilitywhenresurrectingdormantpropagulessubstantiatestheiruseinecoevolutionarystudies
AT summersjenniferl accountingforvariabilitywhenresurrectingdormantpropagulessubstantiatestheiruseinecoevolutionarystudies
AT kleinerhelenas accountingforvariabilitywhenresurrectingdormantpropagulessubstantiatestheiruseinecoevolutionarystudies
AT fosterbenjamin accountingforvariabilitywhenresurrectingdormantpropagulessubstantiatestheiruseinecoevolutionarystudies
AT mccormackreginam accountingforvariabilitywhenresurrectingdormantpropagulessubstantiatestheiruseinecoevolutionarystudies
AT jamesevanw accountingforvariabilitywhenresurrectingdormantpropagulessubstantiatestheiruseinecoevolutionarystudies
AT kochrachela accountingforvariabilitywhenresurrectingdormantpropagulessubstantiatestheiruseinecoevolutionarystudies
AT mettsdaileel accountingforvariabilitywhenresurrectingdormantpropagulessubstantiatestheiruseinecoevolutionarystudies
AT saunderscolin accountingforvariabilitywhenresurrectingdormantpropagulessubstantiatestheiruseinecoevolutionarystudies
AT megonigaljamespatrick accountingforvariabilitywhenresurrectingdormantpropagulessubstantiatestheiruseinecoevolutionarystudies
AT blummichaelj accountingforvariabilitywhenresurrectingdormantpropagulessubstantiatestheiruseinecoevolutionarystudies
AT mclachlanjasons accountingforvariabilitywhenresurrectingdormantpropagulessubstantiatestheiruseinecoevolutionarystudies