Master's lecture in Environment and Natural Resources - Courtney Michelle Brooks
The lecture will be streamed on Zoom: https://eu01web.zoom.us/j/64872618369
Master's student: Courtney Michelle Brooks
Title: A Prototype for an Icelandic Native Seed Production Manual
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Faculty: Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences
Advisor: Þóra Ellen Þórhallsdóttir, Professor at the Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences
Other member of the masters committee: Kristín Svavarsdóttir, Plant Ecologist at the Soil Conservation Service of Iceland
Examiner: Ása L. Aradóttir, Professor at the Agricultural University of Iceland
Abstract
There is increasing demand for the use of native plants in ecological restoration and reclamation projects around Iceland, yet there is not a diverse supply of native material available for project implementation. This thesis explores the status of native seed production in Iceland, develops a protocol for rating native species for ecological tolerance and seed production, and presents a prototype for Icelandic native seed production manual. The objective is to create a useful tool for restoration practitioners and raise awareness on the potential of native Icelandic flora for restoration and reclamation. All native vascular plant species in the Icelandic flora were scored according to their ecological tolerance, a score comprised of species abundance within four main habitat types: birch woodlands, grasslands, heathlands and wetlands, and their potential for nitrogen fixation. Species were separated into four functional groups: grasses and graminoids, forbs and horsetails, legumes, and woody shrubs and trees. The top 10 scoring species from each functional group were then ranked by how much human effort is involved in producing seed. Production effort was defined by ease of seed harvest, ease of seed harvesting, cleaning and preparation, storage, and germination requirements. The top scoring species from each functional group were selected for a prototype manual. The selected species included: Deschampsia cespitosa (L.) Roemer & Schultes, Rumex acetosa L. subsp. acetosa, Salix lanata L., and Trifolium repens L. The prototype manual includes a description of vegetative and floral morphology, species distribution and distribution map, species occurrence by region, habitat types, flowering time, pollination mode, breeding system, guidelines for harvesting wild seed, cleaning effort, seed weight, seed storage behavior, germination requirements and a botanical drawing of each species.