Seed germinability and longevity influences regeneration of Acacia gerrardii Majda K. Suleiman . Kingsley Dixon . Lucy Commander . Paul Nevill . Narayana R. Bhat . M. Anisul Islam . Sheena Jacob . Rini Thomas Received: 29 October 2017 / Accepted: 20 March 2018 Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V., part of Springer Nature 2018 Abstract Acacia gerrardii is the only native tree species of the Kuwaiti desert ecosystem. However, anthropogenic disturbances and harsh arid climate have contributed towards the disappearance of this keystone species from its habitat. In this study, effects of different seed pretreatments to break dormancy, water entry pathway, and ecology (seasonal timing) of dormancy loss and germination of A. gerrardii were investigated. Effects of mechanical scarification, hot water treatment (30 s, 1, 2, and 5 min), and concen- trated acid scarification (10, 20, and 30 min) on germination percentage and rate (time to 50% germination and final germination) were also exam- ined. Pretreatment with mechanical scarification pro- duced the highest germination in the least time and 20 °C, 40% RH with 12 h of light (2370 Lux) were found to provide the best germination environment. Seeds were rapidly aged at 60% RH and 45 or 50 °C to determine longevity, and the results were analyzed using probit analysis. Times taken for viability of A. gerrardii seeds aged at 45 and 50 °C to fall to 50% (p 50 ) were 38.6 and 9.3 days, respectively, and therefore the seeds can be considered to have medium longevity. Experiments to find the water entry path- way in A. gerrardii indicated that the micropyle region Communicated by Philip Ladd. M. K. Suleiman (&) Á N. R. Bhat Á M. A. Islam Á S. Jacob Á R. Thomas Desert Agriculture and Ecosystems Program, Environment and Life Sciences Research Center, Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, P.O. Box 24885, Safat 13109, Kuwait e-mail: mkhalil@kisr.edu.kw N. R. Bhat e-mail: nbhat@kisr.edu.kw M. A. Islam e-mail: aislam@kisr.edu.kw S. Jacob e-mail: sjacob@kisr.edu.kw R. Thomas e-mail: rthomas@kisr.edu.kw K. Dixon Department of Environment and Agriculture, ARC Centre for Mine Site Restoration, Curtin University, Bentley, WA, Australia e-mail: kingsley.dixon@curtin.edu.au L. Commander School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia, 35, Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia e-mail: lucy.commander@uwa.edu.au P. Nevill Department of Environment and Agriculture, Curtin University, Bentley, WA, Australia e-mail: paul.nevill@curtin.edu.au 123 Plant Ecol https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-018-0820-8