Effects of stratification duration and Gibberellic Acid on germination success in Viola pedunculata

DeRosa University Center, Ballroom

Species in the genus Speyeria have been documented to be in decline since the 1980’s. Most conservation research for the genus focuses on east coast species, such as Speyeria idalia and Speyeria diana. Our lab focuses on west coast Speyeria species, and is currently working on projects related to the conservation and restoration of species in decline. Several reasons have been cited as causes for declines of Speyeria, but the most common is disturbance of the Viola host plants. If we are to restore butterfly habitat and populations, a critical component will be restoration of the Viola host plants. An impediment to restoring the hosts is a lack of knowledge of their germination requirements, which could help avoid destructive transplanting methods. Therefore, in this study we focused on the germination and growth of the Johnny Jump-up, Viola pedunculata, the host of the federally listed endangered species Speyeria callippe callippe. In our investigation, we examined the effects of Gibberellic acid concentration and the duration of stratification on germination success. Preliminary results indicate that the concentration of Gibberellic acid does not appear to have a strong effect on the germination of V. pedunculata. In addition, V. pedunculata germinated well during stratification starting in week 3. At the end of the stratification treatment, seeds stratified for 10 weeks had 95% germination success whereas those stratified for 5 weeks had 87% and those stratified 1 week saw no germination. Together, these preliminary results indicate that V. pedunculata can be successfully germinated from seed in the lab, making restoration of V. pedunculata populations promising.