Plant regeneration by seeds in hot deserts

Deserts occupy a significant fraction of the Earth’s terrestrial surface and are characterized by extreme conditions, including low precipitation, high temperature, and significant variation in both temperature and precipitation. Climate change has, and will continue to, strongly affect desert conditions, mainly through increased temperatures as well as variability in temperature and precipitation. Ecological and evolutionary strategies for coping with desert life show remarkable convergence across systems and typically include traits related to regeneration from seed, namely, seed dormancy, seed persistence in soil, and germination strategies. Here, we review these strategies for plants in hot deserts in relation to climate and explore the implications for plant regeneration from seeds under future climate change. We highlight the critical role of temperature, as well as how it will interact with precipitation to drive regeneration from seeds in desert systems impacted by climate change.