scholarly journals Germinable Soil Seed Bank in Biancana Badlands

Diversity ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 223
Author(s):  
Simona Maccherini ◽  
Elisa Santi ◽  
Dino Torri

Seed banks are important for understanding vegetation dynamics and habitat regeneration potential. Biancana badlands are vanishing landscapes where recurring and non-recurring management has been advocated to restore vegetation. Here, we investigated germinable seed bank structure and composition of a biancana badland in central Italy and evaluated the relationship between the standing vegetation and soil seed bank. We identified four land cover classes in five biancana badlands of Tuscany (central Italy) and collected data from 132 vegetation plots and 660 soil cores. We recorded 117 species in the standing vegetation. The seedlings that emerged from the soil samples, mostly annual species, numbered 183 and belonged to 31 taxa (392.5 seedlings/m−2 on average across the four land cover classes). Standing vegetation showed an aggregated spatial pattern with distinct communities while the seed bank showed a less aggregated spatial pattern. The similarity between the seed bank and standing vegetation was low. In contrast with the features generally found for disturbed and pioneer communities, but in line with seed bank characteristics of other badlands, the seed bank was particularly poor in species.

1996 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 421 ◽  
Author(s):  
SC Navie ◽  
RA Cowley ◽  
RW Rogers

The germinable soil seed bank of a grassy Eucalyptus populnea F.Muell, open woodland was investigated in relationship to distance from water (away from a bore-drain) on North Yancho Station, near Bollon in southern semi-arid Queensland. The germinable soil seed bank was both diverse and abundant, 69 taxa of seedlings being identified to species and 2 more to genus. A mean density of 13 207 ± 4160 seeds m-2 was recorded, with over 80% of the seed being from the annual forbs Crassula sieberana (Schultes & J.H.Shultes) Druce, Wahlenbergia tumidifructa P.J.Smith and Dysphania gomulifera (Nees) Paul G.Wilson. Most common species showed spatial variation in their germinable seed density with relation to distance from water, resembling the patterns previously reported by other authors for standing vegetation under stocking pressure gradients.


2016 ◽  
Vol 96 ◽  
pp. 45-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lijuan Cui ◽  
Wei Li ◽  
Xinsheng Zhao ◽  
Manyin Zhang ◽  
Yinru Lei ◽  
...  

1997 ◽  
Vol 45 (6) ◽  
pp. 1055 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. C. Navie ◽  
R. W. Rogers ◽  
R. W. Rogers

A range of diaspore and mature plant attributes of the species represented in the germinable seed bank of a semi-arid subtropical Queensland sheep rangeland was investigated. The attributes of both the diaspores themselves and the plants that produced them changed as distance from water increased. Close to the water source, species with prostrate or erect growth habit and with low palatability and capsular fruits were common, whereas further from the water source plants with ascending growth habits, high palatability and mericarpic fruits were more frequent. At close proximity to water, species with diaspores that germinated rapidly, were unornamented, with unassisted dispersal and rounded in shape were common, whereas at greater distance from water, species tended to possess diaspores which germinated slowly, were ornamented (possessed awns, barbs, or hairs), with an elongated shape. Longevity of the plants (annual or perennial) was not significantly affected by distance from water. The dormant, vegetative and reproductive phases of plants that are successfully incorporated into the germinable soil seed bank can, therefore, be related to success under the different stocking intensities present at different distances from water.


Plants ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 1391
Author(s):  
Anussara Chalermsri ◽  
La-aw Ampornpan ◽  
Witoon Purahong

Human activity negatively affects the sustainability of forest ecosystems globally. Disturbed forests may or may not recover by themselves in a certain period of time. However, it is still unclear as to what parameters can be used to reasonably predict the potential for self-recovery of human-disturbed forests. Here, we combined seed rain, soil seed bank, and seed emergence experiments to evaluate the potential for self-recovery of a highly disturbed, tropical, mixed deciduous forest in northeastern Thailand. Our results show a limited potential for self-recovery of this forest due to low seedling input and storage and an extremely high mortality rate during the drought period. There were 15 tree species of seedlings present during the regeneration period in comparison with a total number of 56 tree species in current standing vegetation. During the dry season, only four tree seedling species survived, and the highest mortality rate reached 83.87%. We also found that the correspondence between the combined number of species and composition of plant communities obtained from seed rain, soil seed bank, and seedling emergence experiments and the standing vegetation was poor. We clearly show the temporal dynamics of the seed rain and seedling communities, which are driven by different plant reproductive phenology and dispersal mechanisms, and drought coupled with mortality. We conclude that this highly disturbed forest needs a management plan and could not recover by itself in a short period of time. We recommend the use of external seed and seedling supplies and the maintenance of soil water content (i.e., shading) during periods of drought in order to help increase seedling abundances and species richness, and to reduce the mortality rate.


2013 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra Skowronek ◽  
André Terwei ◽  
Stefan Zerbe ◽  
Inga Mölder ◽  
Peter Annighöfer ◽  
...  

2009 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 249-259 ◽  
Author(s):  
K.M.G. Gehan Jayasuriya ◽  
Jerry M. Baskin ◽  
Dennis M. Tekrony ◽  
Carol C. Baskin

AbstractThe physically dormant seeds ofIpomoea lacunosaand ofI. hederaceaundergo sensitivity cycling (insensitive ↔  sensitive) to dormancy-breaking treatment. Sensitivity cycling is important to seeds with physical dormancy in sensing appropriate environmental conditions for germination. Seed vigour is also important to seedling establishment, but no study has compared changes in vigour (or not) with changes in sensitivity. This study was conducted to determine the relationship between sensitivity cycling and seed vigour inI. lacunosaandI. hederacea. The seed moisture contents of insensitive and sensitive seeds ofI. lacunosaand of sensitive seeds ofI. hederaceawere measured, and several vigour tests were performed. Vigour of sensitive seeds ofI. lacunosadecreased more rapidly than that of insensitive seeds. No significant change in vigour was observed in either permeable or impermeable seeds ofI. hederacea. We conclude that sensitivity cycling to physical dormancy break is important in maintaining vigour ofI. lacunosaseeds in the soil seed-bank.


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