Sustainability of seed harvesting in wild plant populations: an insight from a global database of matrix population models

  • Abstract Seed harvesting from wild plant populations is key for ecological restoration, but may threaten the persistence of source populations. Consequently, several countries have set guidelines limiting the proportions of harvestable seeds. However, these guidelines are so far inconsistent, and they lack a solid empirical basis. Here, we use high-resolution data from 298 plant species to model the demographic consequences of seed harvesting. We find that the current guidelines do not protect populations of annuals and short-lived perennials, while they are overly restrictive for long-lived plants. We show that the maximum possible fraction of seed production – what can be harvested without compromising the long-term persistence of populations – is strongly related to the generation time of the target species. When harvesting every year, this safe seed fraction ranges from 80% in long-lived species to 2% in most annuals. Less frequent seed harvesting substantially increases the safe seed fraction: In the most vulnerable annual species, it is safe to harvest 5%, 10% or 30% of population seed production when harvesting every two, five or ten years, respectively. Our results provide a quantitative basis for seed harvesting legislations worldwide, based on species’ generation time and harvesting regime. Significance The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, 2021-2030, foresees upscaling restoration, and the demand for native seed is skyrocketing. Seeds for restoring native vegetation are often harvested in wild, but too intensive harvest can threaten the donor populations. Existing guidelines that set limits to wild seed harvest are mostly based on expert opinions, yet they commonly lack empirical basis and vary among regions in one order of magnitude. We show that the current guidelines urgently need to be reformulated, because they are overly restrictive in long-lived species, while they do not protect annual plants from extinction. Using matrix population models of nearly 300 plant species, we provide a quantitative basis for a new seed harvesting legislation world-wide.

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Metadaten
Author:Anna BucharovaORCiDGND, Oliver BossdorfORCiDGND, Johannes Fredericus ScheepensORCiDGND, Roberto Salguero-GómezORCiD
URN:urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-860708
URL:https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.01.12.523821v2
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.01.12.523821
Parent Title (English):bioRxiv
Publisher:bioRxiv
Document Type:Preprint
Language:English
Date of Publication (online):2024/06/21
Date of first Publication:2024/06/21
Publishing Institution:Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg
Release Date:2024/07/05
Issue:2023.01.12.523821v2
Edition:Version 2
Page Number:75
Institutes:Biowissenschaften / Biowissenschaften
Dewey Decimal Classification:5 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik / 57 Biowissenschaften; Biologie / 570 Biowissenschaften; Biologie
Sammlungen:Universitätspublikationen
Licence (German):License LogoCreative Commons - CC BY-NC-ND - Namensnennung - Nicht kommerziell - Keine Bearbeitungen 4.0 International