Coastal desert vegetation of the Arabian Peninsula is almost entirely dominated by halophytes. Natural populations provide a genetic resource for ecological remediation and may also have direct economic value. High intrapopulation variation of seed traits is presumed to increase population persistence in the unpredictable climatic conditions of this hyper-arid desert. We investigated whether intrapopulation variation of seed mass, dormancy and germinability of four species was attributable to maternal individuals. Arthrocnemum macrostachyum, Halothamnus iraquensis, Haloxylon salicornicum and Seidlitzia rosmarinus are commonly distributed Arabian halophytes with differing seed weight variation. All species exhibited a higher germination when exposed daily to 12 h light, compared to seeds in darkness. A higher germination was correlated with a shorter germination time. For H. iraquensis and S. rosmarinus, a shorter germination time was negatively correlated with germination synchrony. H. salicornicum showed the highest intrapopulation variation of seed traits, followed by A. macrostachyum, S. rosmarinus and H. iraqensis. We found that individuals within populations of all the studied species showed variability in germination but the extent of variation was species-specific. The variation in seed mass and germination among the individuals of the studied species may facilitate a temporal distribution of germination, which may reduce the risk of seed bank exhaustion. The results of this study could assist conservation and management by improving the efficiency of seed collection from wild populations of these species.

阿拉伯半岛沿海荒漠植被几乎全部以盐生植物为主。自然种群为生态修复提供了遗传资源，也可能具有直接的经济价值。据推测，种子性状的高种群内变异会增加这种超干旱沙漠不可预测的气候条件下的种群持久性。我们调查了四种物种的种子质量、休眠和发芽能力的种群内变异是否归因于母体个体。大穗刺槐、Halothamnus iraquensis、Haloxylon salicornicum和Seidlitzia rosmarinus是常见的阿拉伯盐生植物，具有不同的种子重量变化。与黑暗中的种子相比，每天暴露于 12 小时光照下，所有物种都表现出更高的发芽率。较高的发芽率与较短的发芽时间相关。对于H. iraquensis和S. rosmarinus，较短的发芽时间与发芽同步性呈负相关。H. salicornicum的种子性状群体内变异最高，其次是A. macrostachyum、S. rosmarinus和H. iraqensis 。我们发现，所有研究物种的种群中的个体都表现出发芽的变异性，但变异的程度是物种特异性的。所研究物种个体之间种子质量和发芽的变化可能有助于发芽的时间分布，这可能会降低种子库枯竭的风险。这项研究的结果可以通过提高从这些物种的野生种群中收集种子的效率来帮助保护和管理。