Induction and potential role of summer dormancy to enhance persistence of perennial grasses under warmer climates

The persistence of perennial herbaceous species is threatened by increasing aridity. However, summer dormancy is a strategy conferring superior survival to grasses adapted to hot and dry summers. The role of temperature on the induction of summer dormancy was investigated in the perennial grass Dactylis glomerata to analyse the potential expression of this strategy under warmer climates.
We tested seven populations of D. glomerata originating from Morocco to Norway across the same latitudinal gradient in a five-site experiment. One population of the highly summer-dormant grass Poa bulbosa was used as a reference. Plants were grown from autumn in pots under full irrigation for one year mostly under open-air shelters.  Heading date (ear emergence preceding flowering) was recorded and foliage senescence was assessed from end of spring until autumn. The maximum plant senescence under summer irrigation indicated the level of dormancy expression. Summer dormancy onset, release, expression and...