Department of Aquatic Ecology and Environmental Biology, Institute for Water and Wetland research (IWWR), Radboud University, Heyendaalseweg 135, 6525 AJ Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Conservation Ecology Group, Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen (GELIFES), Post Office Box 11103, 9700 CC The Netherlands.
Sci Rep. 2017 Feb 22;7:43172. doi: 10.1038/srep43172.
Restoration is increasingly considered an essential tool to halt and reverse the rapid decline of vital coastal ecosystems dominated by habitat-forming foundation species such as seagrasses. However, two recently discovered pathogens of marine plants, Phytophthora gemini and Halophytophthora sp. Zostera, can seriously hamper restoration efforts by dramatically reducing seed germination. Here, we report on a novel method that strongly reduces Phytophthora and Halophytophthora infection of eelgrass (Zostera marina) seeds. Seeds were stored in seawater with three different copper sulphate concentrations (0.0, 0.2, 2.0 ppm) crossed with three salinities (0.5, 10.0, 25.0 ppt). Next to reducing seed germination, infection significantly affected cotyledon colour: 90% of the germinated infected seeds displayed a brown cotyledon upon germination that did not continue development into the seedling stage, in contrast to only 13% of the germinated non-infected seeds. Copper successfully reduced infection up to 86% and the 0.2 ppm copper sulphate treatment was just as successful as the 2.0 ppm treatment. Infection was completely eliminated at low salinities, but green seed germination was also dramatically lowered by 10 times. We conclude that copper sulphate treatment is a suitable treatment for disinfecting Phytophthora or Halophytophthora infected eelgrass seeds, thereby potentially enhancing seed-based restoration success.
修复正越来越被视为一种重要手段，可用于阻止和扭转由生境形成基础物种（如海草）主导的重要沿海生态系统的快速衰退。然而，最近发现的两种海洋植物病原体，即双生疫霉和 Zostera 盐单胞菌，可通过显著降低种子发芽率，严重阻碍修复工作。在这里，我们报告了一种新方法，可强烈减少鳗草（Zostera marina）种子中疫霉和盐单胞菌的感染。将种子储存在硫酸铜浓度分别为 0.0、0.2 和 2.0ppm 的海水中，并与 0.5、10.0 和 25.0ppt 的三种盐度交叉，除了降低种子发芽率外，感染还显著影响子叶颜色：90%的感染种子发芽后呈现棕色子叶，无法继续发育为幼苗阶段，而未感染种子的发芽率仅为 13%。铜成功地将感染率降低了 86%，并且 0.2ppm 的硫酸铜处理与 2.0ppm 的处理一样有效。在低盐度下，感染完全消除，但绿色种子的发芽率也降低了 10 倍。我们得出结论，硫酸铜处理是一种消毒鳗草感染的疫霉或盐单胞菌种子的有效方法，从而有可能提高基于种子的修复成功率。
