Defining the pyro-thermal niche: do seed traits, ecosystem type and phylogeny influence thermal thresholds in seeds with physical dormancy

Seeds are a key pathway for plant population recovery following disturbance. To prevent germination during unsuitable conditions, most species produce dormant seeds. In fire-prone regions, physical dormancy (PY) enables seeds to germinate after fire. The thermal niche, incorporating seed dormancy and mortality temperature responses, has not been characterised for PY seeds from fire prone environments.
We aimed to assess variation in thermal thresholds between species with PY seeds and if the pyro-thermal niche is aligned with seed mass, ecosystem type or phylogenetic relatedness.
We collected post heat-shock germination data for 58 Australian species that produce PY seeds. We applied species-specific thermal performance curves to define three critical thresholds (DRT50, dormancy release temperature; Topt, optimum dormancy release temperature and LT50, lethal temperature), defining the pyro-thermal niche. Each species was assigned a mean seed weight and ecosystem type. We constructed a p..., Species selection and data acquisition.
We set out to acquire seed germination data following heat-shock for as many species as possible across temperate Australia. However, to provide accurate estimates of threshold conditions, we applied three rules that allowed data from multiple sources to be brought together; 1) seeds needed to be heated from ~40°C through to at least 120 °C (or higher if there was no evidence of seed mortality at 120°C),  2) seeds had to be heated for either 5 mins and/or 10mins and 3) there was > two non-zero germination data points within the treatments (e.g., seeds treated at 40 °C, 60 °C, 80 °C, 100 °C and 120 °C, but only recorded ~ 0%  germination at 80 and 100 would be discarded). Where there was insufficient data points to model the response, we removed these datasets were removed, as fitting response curves to two data points induces significant error into hypothetical responses. However, this was a rare occurrence, and only appeared once ac..., , # Data from: Defining the pyro-thermal niche: do seed traits, ecosystem type and phylogeny influence thermal thresholds in seeds with physical dormancy

Change log: 25/02/2025

Data files and phylogeny files were updated to align with recently accepted article. Changes updated values based on peer reviewed comments but not metadata was changed. Phylogeny was updated to capture recently published topology within certain genus arrangements effecting 6 genus in total.

the full script and original data generated for this paper is available with the original article. As such, we have removed the redundant upload of the .html file here as well. We have also removed all .png outputs as these are now embedded within the output file linked directly with the original article as supplementary notes.

Data_Long.csv, New_dataD50.csv, New_dataT50.csv, New_dataTopt.csv, have been removed due to not being used in the supplied script.

This dataset provides the full data requirements to implement the \"...