Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-30T19:40:12.070Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Development of soil seed banks beneath synthesized meadow communities after seven years of climate manipulations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 September 2008

M. Olatunde Akinola ,
Ken Thompson  and
Susan H. Hillier
M. Olatunde Akinola
Affiliation:
Unit of Comparative Plant Ecology, Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, The University, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK
Ken Thompson*
Affiliation:
Unit of Comparative Plant Ecology, Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, The University, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK
Susan H. Hillier
Affiliation:
Unit of Comparative Plant Ecology, Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, The University, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK
*
* Fax: 0114 222 0015 E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Meadow microcosms were established from seed on low-fertility soil of known seed bank composition, and subjected to manipulations of simulated grazing, cutting date, temperature and fertility for seven years. The composition and density of the seed bank was then determined in five 2-cm soil layers (0–2, 2–4, 4–6, 6–8 and 8–10 cm). The seed bank contained three distinct groups of species: species present in the original soil, sown species, and ‘others’. The seed bank was little affected by the experimental treatments, presumably because the sown species made only a small contribution to the seed bank. Nearly all the species in the original soil are known to possess persistent seed banks and had survived, although at reduced density, for seven years. Density of the most abundant species in this group, Sagina procumbens, had changed very little over seven years, confirming the well-documented longevity of the seeds of this species. Seeds of sown species made up only about a quarter of the seed bank, despite accounting for virtually all the above-ground vegetation. Of the sown meadow species, only Plantago lanceolata and Alopecurus pratensis were relatively abundant in the seed bank. These results strongly support the conclusion of other authors that most meadow species, once lost owing to the effects of fertilizers or inappropriate management, will not reestablish from the seed bank. Among species which were neither sown nor present in the original soil, the majority possessed adaptations for wind dispersal and had presumably dispersed into the experimental plots from outside. The most abundant member of this group, Betula pendula, had dispersed from a nearby tree. Density of Betula seeds declined sharply with depth, consistent with the view that seeds on the soil surface are rapidly lost, mainly through germination, but seeds that become buried survive much better. Seeds of Betula appear to be persistent but not particularly long-lived.

Keywords

Grazingmicrocosmtemperaturewind dispersal
Type
Ecology
Information
Seed Science Research , Volume 8 , Issue 4 , December 1998 , pp. 493 - 500
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1998

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bekker, R.M., Bakker, J.P., Grandin, U., Kalamees, R., Milberg, P., Poschlod, P., Thompson, K. and Willems, J.H. (1998a) Seed size, shape and vertical distribution in the soil: indicators of seed longevity. Functional Ecology (in press)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bekker, R.M., Oomes, M.J.M. and Bakker, J.P. (1998b) The impact of groundwater level on soil seed bank survival. Seed Science Research 8, 399–404.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bekker, R.M., Schaminée, J.H.J., Bakker, J.P. and Thompson, K. (1998c) Seed bank characteristics of Dutch plant communities. Acta Botanica Neerlandica 47, 15–26.Google Scholar
Bekker, R.M., Verweij, G.L., Smith, R.E.N., Reine, R., Bakker, J.P. and Schneider, S. (1997) Soil seed banks in European grasslands: does land use affect regeneration perspectives? Journal of Applied Ecology 34, 1293–1310.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Donelan, M. and Thompson, K. (1980) Distribution of buried viable seeds along a successional series. Biological Conservation 17, 297–311.Google Scholar
Graham, D.J. and Hutchings, M.J. (1988) A field investigation of germination from the seed bank of a chalk grassland ley on former arable land. Journal of Applied Ecology 25, 253–263.Google Scholar
Granström, A. (1987) Seed viability of fourteen species during four years of storage in a forest soil. Journal of Ecology 75, 321–331.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Granström, A. and Fries, C. (1985) Depletion of viable seeds of Betula pubescens and Betula verrucosa sown onto some north Swedish forest soils. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 15, 1176–1180.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hillier, S.H., Sutton, F. and Grime, J.P. (1994) A new technique for the experimental manipulation of temperature in plant communities. Functional Ecology 8, 755–762.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kirkham, F.W. and Kent, M. (1997) Soil seed bank composition in relation to the above-ground vegetation in fertilized and unfertilized hay meadows on a Somerset peat moor. Journal of Applied Ecology 34, 889–902.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McDonald, A.W., Bakker, J.P. and Vegelin, K. (1996) Seed bank classification and its importance for the restoration of species-rich flood-meadows. Journal of Vegetation Science 7, 157–164.Google Scholar
Milberg, P. and Hansson, M.L. (1994) Soil seed bank and species turnover in a limestone grassland. Journal of Vegetation Science 5, 35–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roberts, H.A. and Dawkins, P.A. (1967) Effect of cultivation on the numbers of viable weed seeds in soil. Weed Research 7, 290–301.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schenkeveld, A.J. and Verkaar, H.J. (1984) The ecology of short-lived forbs in chalk grasslands: distribution of germinative seeds and its significance for seedling emergence. Journal of Biogeography 11, 251–260.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stace, C.A. (1991) New flora of the British Isles. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Ter Heerdt, G.N.J., Verweij, G.L., Bekker, R.M. and Bakker, J.P. (1996) An improved method for seed bank analysis: seedling emergence after removing the soil by sieving. Functional Ecology 10, 144–151.Google Scholar
Thompson, K., Bakker, J.P. and Bekker, R.M. (1997) Soil Seed Banks of North-West Europe: Methodology, Density and Longevity. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Thompson, K., Band, S.R. and Hodgson, J.G. (1993) Seed size and shape predict persistence in soil. Functional Ecology 7, 236–241.CrossRefGoogle Scholar