Germination response to various temperature regimes of four Mediterranean seeder shrubs across a range of altitudes

In dry-summer seasonal climates, the beginning of the rainy season can prompt germination under different temperatures, depending on altitude. Understanding germination responses to temperature with altitude is important in fire-prone environments for species regenerating after fire from seeds (seeders), particularly under changing climate. Here we investigated the role of temperature in four Mediterranean seeder shrubs from Central Spain. Seeds from 17 sites (285–1,253 m altitude), of two hard-seeded nanophanerophytes (Cistus ladanifer and C. salviifolius) and two soft-seeded chamaephytes (Lavandula pedunculata and Thymus mastichina) were investigated. Intact and heat shock treated seeds were set to germinate under four temperature regimes, including a treatment simulating future warming. GLM with binomial or gamma functions were used to test treatment effects using altitude as a covariate. Altitude was a significant covariate only in L. pedunculata. Temperature did not affect final germination in either Cistus, but it significantly affected T. mastichina, and interacted with altitude in L. pedunculata, whereby the higher the altitude the less it germinated with decreasing temperature. Germination speed (T50) was lower at colder temperatures in all but C. salviifolius that was insensitive to our treatments. Heat shock significantly increased final germination in both Cistus and T. mastichina, but did not interact with temperature or altitude. We conclude that germination response to temperature, including varying sensitivity with altitude, differed among these species; thus, changes in the timing of the onset of the rainy season will diversely affect populations at various altitudes. We discuss our results in a context of changing climate and fire.