The soil seed bank and seed germination capacity of Poa annua in the vicinity of the Polish

Maciej Wódkiewicz* The soil seed bank and seed germination capacity of Poa annua in the vicinity of the Polish Halina Galera* Antarctic Station (South Shetlands, Antarctica) were investigated. It was documented that Katarzyna J. Chwedorzewska† annual bluegrass can reproduce sexually and produce a functional seed bank of close to Irena Giełwanowska‡ and 5000 seeds/m under maritime Antarctic conditions. Comparison of germination between Poa annua and two native plant species revealed that Poa annua seeds can germinate as Maria Olech§ fast or even faster than native species, and are more vigorous. Our studies show that in *Department of Plant Ecology and the Antarctic Poa annua can successfully reproduce sexually and produce fully developed, Environmental Conservation, Faculty of viable caryopses that are able to survive the maritime Antarctic winter, not only in a soil Biology, University of Warsaw, Al. bank, but also directly in the previous year’s inflorescences. Ujazdowskie 4, 00-478 Warsaw, Poland †Corresponding author: Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics PAS, Department of Antarctic Biology, Pawińskiego 5a, 02-106 Warsaw, Poland. [email protected] ‡Department of Plant Physiology and Biotechnology, University of Warmia and Mazury, Oczapowskiego 1A, 10-719 Olsztyn, Poland §Institute of Botany, Jagiellonian University, Kopernika 27, 31-501 Cracow, Poland DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1657/1938-4246-45.3.415