Germination Capacity of Five Dry-Forest Tree Species from Southern Ecuador After 12 to 17 Years of Ambient Laboratory Storage

Ex situ seed collections support dry-forest restoration, yet how much germination capacity tropical tree seeds retain under ambient, non-refrigerated storage is rarely documented beyond a few years. We compared historical seed lots of five native tree species from the Tumbesian dry forests of southern Ecuador, kept for 12 to 17 years in paper bags under uncontrolled laboratory conditions, with freshly collected lots, sowing 948 seeds. Because the lots are independent collections without initial germination data, all comparisons are observational and describe retained germination capacity rather than isolated storage effects; ungerminated seeds were not tested for viability. Historical lots germinated less than fresh lots in four species (58–87% lower); overall, 15.6% of historical and 48.1% of fresh seeds germinated. The difference was largest in Ceiba trichistandra (10.4% vs. 81.2%) and absent in Caesalpinia spinosa (25.0% vs. 27.1%), whose low fresh-lot germination may reflect physical dormancy. Coccoloba ruiziana, regionally listed as recalcitrant, still germinated at 23% after 14 years, which is inconsistent with recalcitrant behavior and supports treating it as intermediate. Relative loss increased with years in storage, but this exploratory association is confounded with species and collection year. Only C. ruiziana produced clearly shorter seedlings from historical seed. Decade-old ambient holdings can still yield seedlings, but sowing quantities must be species-specific.