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Dynamics of Seed Bank and Survivorship of Meadow Salsify (Tragopogon pratensis) Populations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 June 2017

Meiqin Qi
Affiliation:
Dep. Plant Sci., Univ. of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C. V6T 1Z4, Canada
Mahesh K. Upadhyaya
Affiliation:
Dep. Plant Sci., Univ. of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C. V6T 1Z4, Canada
Roy Turkington
Affiliation:
Dep. Bot., Univ. of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C. V6T 1Z4, Canada

Abstract

Seasonal changes in germination behaviour of meadow salsify seeds buried at different depths, and survivorship of seed and plant populations were investigated. Freshly matured seeds were mixed with sterilized soil, placed into nylon mesh bags, and buried at three soil depths in a meadow salsify-infested rangeland. Two germination peaks were observed: one in the fall, 2 to 3 mo after burial, and a second the following spring. Burial depth affected seed dormancy. The number of seeds with enforced dormancy, and innate or induced dormancy, increased with burial depth in the 1989 cohort, and the number with enforced dormancy increased in the 1990 cohort. Burial depth also affected seed survivorship. The survivorship curves for 1989 and 1990 seed cohorts were not different as indicated by the Logrank test. The seed population was nearly depleted after 9 to 10 mo of burial; less than 3 % of the buried seeds remained viable after 13 mo. About 50% of the plants monitored in a natural meadow salsify population in 1990 died before winter, and an additional 35% died during winter. The mortality of the remaining plants during the second growing season was very low. Only 12% of the 1990 cohort remained in October 1991. Mortality of meadow salsify plants was density-independent.

Type
Weed Biology and Ecology
Copyright
Copyright © 1996 by the Weed Science Society of America 

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