Soil seed banks and post-fire seed deposition across a forest - fynbos ecotone in the Cape Province

1990 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 491-498 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. T. Manders
Keyword(s):  
Seed Banks ◽  
Soil Seed Banks ◽  
Seed Deposition

scholarly journals Classification of Post-Fire Responses of Woody Plants to include Pyrophobic Communities

Fire ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynda D. Prior ◽  
David M. J. S. Bowman
Keyword(s):  
Woody Plants ◽  
Seed Banks ◽  
Classification Systems ◽  
Woody Vegetation ◽  
General Category ◽  
Conifer Species ◽  
Soil Seed Banks ◽  
Obligate Seeder ◽  
In Fire

Developing standardised classification of post-fire responses is essential for globally consistent comparisons of woody vegetation communities. Existing classification systems are based on responses of species growing in fire-prone environments. To accommodate species that occur in rarely burnt environments, we have suggested some important points of clarification to earlier schemes categorizing post-fire responses. We have illustrated this approach using several Australasian conifer species as examples of pyrophobic species. In particular, we suggest using the term “obligate seeder” for the general category of plants that rely on seed to reproduce, and qualifying this to “post-fire obligate seeder” for the narrower category of species with populations that recover from canopy fire only by seeding; the species are typically fire-cued, with large aerial or soil seed banks that germinate profusely following a fire, and grow and reproduce rapidly in order to renew the seed bank before the next fire.

Soil seed banks and the effects of meadow management on vegetation change in a 10-year meadow field trial

2002 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 279-293 ◽  
Author(s):  
R.S. Smith ◽  
R.S. Shiel ◽  
D. Millward ◽  
P. Corkhill ◽  
R.A. Sanderson
Keyword(s):  
Field Trial ◽  
Vegetation Change ◽  
Seed Banks ◽  
Soil Seed Banks

Effects of cattle grazing timing and intensity on soil seed banks and regeneration strategies in a Mediterranean grassland

2008 ◽  
Vol 9 (Supplement 1) ◽  
pp. 97-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Aboling ◽  
M. Sternberg ◽  
A. Perevolotsky ◽  
J. Kigel
Keyword(s):  
Cattle Grazing ◽  
Seed Banks ◽  
Soil Seed Banks ◽  
Regeneration Strategies

scholarly journals Similarity between seed bank and herb layer in a natural deciduous temperate lowland forest

2011 ◽  
Vol 79 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maciej Wódkiewicz ◽  
Anna Justyna Kwiatkowska-Falińska
Keyword(s):  
Seed Bank ◽  
Soil Seed Bank ◽  
Similarity Index ◽  
Seed Banks ◽  
Herb Layer ◽  
Managed Forests ◽  
Lowland Forest ◽  
Soil Seed Banks ◽  
Dominance Structure ◽  
Species Similarity

Forest seed banks mostly studied in managed forests proved to be small, species poor and not reflecting aboveground species composition. Yet studies conducted in undisturbed communities indicate a different seed bank characteristic. Therefore we aimed at describing soil seed bank in an undisturbed forest in a remnant of European lowland temperate forests, the Białowieża Forest. We compared similarity between the herb layer and seed bank, similarity of seed bank between different patches, and dominance structure of species in the herb layer and in the seed bank of two related oak-hornbeam communities. We report relatively high values of Sorensen species similarity index between herb layer and seed bank of both patches. This suggests higher species similarity of the herb layer and soil seed bank in natural, unmanaged forests represented by both plots than in fragmented communities influenced by man. Although there was a set of core seed bank species present at both plots, yielding high Sorensen species similarity index values, considerable differences between plots in seed bank size and dominance structure of species were found, indicating spatial variability of studied seed bank generated by edaphic conditions. Dominance structure of species in the herb layer was not reflected in the underlying seed bank. This stresses, that natural forest regeneration cannot rely only on the seed bank, although some forest species are capable of forming soil seed banks. While forest seed banks may not reflect vegetation composition of past successional stages, they may inform on history and land use of a specific plot.

scholarly journals Rainfall in growing season determines the size of an annual-dominated soil seed bank in a desert ecosystem

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ya-Fei Shi ◽  
Zengru Wang ◽  
Bing-Xin Xu ◽  
Jian-Qiang Huo ◽  
Rui Hu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Species Composition ◽  
Seed Bank ◽  
Soil Seed Bank ◽  
Growing Season ◽  
Seed Banks ◽  
Desert Ecosystem ◽  
Perennial Herb ◽  
Desert Ecosystems ◽  
Soil Seed Banks

Soil seed banks may offer great potential for restoring and maintaining desert ecosystems that have been degraded by climate change and anthropogenic disturbance. However, few studies have explored the annual dynamics in the composition and relative abundance of these soil seed banks. We conducted a long-term observational study to assess the effects of environmental factors (meteorology and microtopography) and aboveground vegetation on the soil seed bank of the Tengger Desert, China. The desert seed bank was dominated by annual herbs. We found that more rainfall in the growing season increased the number of seeds in the soil seed bank, and that quadrats at relatively higher elevations had fewer seeds. The species composition had more similarity in the seed bank than in the aboveground vegetation, though the seed bank and aboveground vegetation did change synchronously due to the rapid propagation of annuals. Together, our findings suggest that the combined effects of environmental factors and plant life forms determine the species composition and size of soil seed banks in deserts. Thus, if degraded desert ecosystems are left to regenerate naturally, the lack of shrub and perennial herb seeds could crucially limit their restoration. Human intervention and management may have to be applied to enhance the seed abundance of longer-lived lifeforms in degraded deserts.

scholarly journals Characterization and ecological significance of a seed bank from the Upper Pennsylvanian Wise Formation, southwest Virginia

2017 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 165-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Petra S. Yehnjong ◽  
Michael S. Zavada ◽  
Chris Liu
Keyword(s):  
Seed Size ◽  
Seed Bank ◽  
Seedling Establishment ◽  
Environmental Variability ◽  
Seed Banks ◽  
Evolutionary Strategy ◽  
Predator Population ◽  
Seed Density ◽  
Soil Seed Banks ◽  
Large Seed

AbstractSoil seed banks are important to the maintenance and restoration of floras. Extant seed banks exhibit unique characteristics with regard to the distribution of seed size and seed density. Seeds were recovered from the Upper Pennsylvanian Wise Formation in southwest Virginia. Structurally preserved seeds were also examined from coal balls of the Pennsylvanian Pottsville and Allegheny Groups, Ohio. The size distribution of the seeds from the Wise Formation is similar to that of structurally preserved seeds of the Upper Pennsylvanian Pottsville and Allegheny Group coal balls. In contrast, the seed size distributions in extant wetland, grassland, woodland and forest habitats are significantly narrower than that of seeds from the Pennsylvanian seed banks. Larger seeds are less dependent on light for germination, and aid in seedling establishment more than smaller seeds, especially in dense stable forests where disturbance events are rare. Large seed size may contribute to increased seed longevity, which reduces the effect of environmental variability on seed germination and development. The significantly larger size of the Palaeozoic seeds may have imparted an advantage for seedling establishment in the dense Palaeozoic forests. The preponderance of large seeds may be a result of the absence of large seed predators (e.g. herbivorous tetrapods), and may have been an evolutionary strategy to minimize damage to the embryo from a predator population dominated by small invertebrates with chewing or sucking mouthparts. The estimated seed density of 192 seeds/m2in the Palaeozoic seed bank falls within the range of modern seed banks, but at the lower end of modern seed bank densities in a variety of habitats.

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