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Research on germination ecology of Croatian statutorily strictly protected species in the Botanical Garden of the Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb (Croatia)

Freshly matured seeds of five Croatian statutorily strictly protected species, collected in the wild at the time of their natural dispersal, were tested for seed germination in various conditions. All of these autochthonous perennials are listed in the IUCN-, European-, EU- and/or local Red Lists, one or more Annexes of the Habitats Directive and Bern Convention, as well as NATURA-2000-important species. Illyrian-Balkan endemic Chouardia (Scilla) litardierei (Breistr.) Speta is listed as critically endangered (CR) for EU (since it is nearly extinct in Slovenia, single EU-country besides Croatia where it grows naturally), while in Croatia is still frequent. Shrubby endemic Genista holopetala (Koch) Bald. is considered to be vulnerable (VU) in EU (Slovenia and Italy), but is still abundant in Croatian littoral. European endemic Serratula (Klasea) lycopifolia (Vill.) A. Kern. is listed as data deficient (DD) in the IUCN-, European-, EU- and Croatian Red Lists. Ligularia sibirica (L.) Cass. has its European southern-most, but solitary locality in Croatian National park “Plitvice Lakes” and it is listed as critically endangered (CR) in Croatian Red Data Book. At last, the single Croatian monotypic genus, Degenia velebitica (Degen) Hayek grows in only several localities of the mountains of Velebit and Kapela and it is recorded as endangered (EN) in Croatian Red Data Book. In this germination research, we placed the seeds of aforementioned five rare species in four different temperature regimes, and in the light/dark conditions. Every germination experiment lasted for 20 weeks, during which the rotation of the samples to different temperature regimes was performed monthly (every four weeks). Young seedlings of all species were regularly transplanted for further cultivation in the native collections of our Botanical Garden, as required in the special Permissions for collecting statutorily protected and threatened plants in the wild, obtained from the Croatian Ministry of Environmental and Nature Protection. Also, after the experiments were set, we were permitted to lay the rest of the collected seeds in cryopreservation (permanent seed bank) at the temperature of -20˚C. However, as each full-germination experiment involves approx. 4000 seeds, and Croatian Ministry authorised collection of 2000-5000 seeds per species (depending on the size and stability of plant populations), Chouradia litardierei was the only species with enough collected seeds for the full experiment of germination ecology, and for the cryopreservation left. During the years, we are hoping to obtain the seeds from the plants grown during this research, to be preserved in the seed bank.

germination ecology ; seed bank ; Chouardia (Scilla) litardierei ; Degenia velebitica ; Genista holopetala ; Ligularia sibirica ; Serratula (Klasea) lycopifolia

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