Seed dispersal is one of the vehicles of gene flow in plants. If a seed carrying transgene(s) is dispersed into the environment, the fate can be determined by its persistence in the soil bank, which can also vary in different ecotypes of a species and the physical environment of the soil including temperature and moisture. This study aimed at investigating ecotypic differences in wild sorghum f...

Disturbance plays a key role in driving ecological responses by creating opportunities for new ecological communities to assemble and by directly influencing the outcomes of assembly. Legacy effects (such as seed banks) and environmental filters can both influence community assembly, but their effects are impossible to separate with observational data. Here, we used seeding experiments in sites...

Germination from the soil seed bank (SSB) is an important determinant of species composition in tropical forest gaps, with seed persistence in the SSB allowing trees to recruit even decades after dispersal. The capacity to form a persistent SSB is often associated with physical dormancy, where seed coats are impermeable at the time of dispersal. Germination literature often speculates, without ...

Ecological systems are severely damaged by the anthropogenic disturbance of mining. Phosphate open-pit mining fields cover over 200 km2 Negev desert, Israel. However, effects ongoing mine site restoration efforts on plant community have not been studied. Plants and their seed banks a major role in ecosystem processes restoration. In this study, we focused three sites, restored different years, ...

We examined the ̄oristic signi®cance of soil seed banks in relation to valley, midslope and ridge sites in a 70±90-year old forest in northeastern Connecticut. A-horizon mineral soils were collected to 5 cm depth in the early spring from forest understory sites across the topography. Samples from each of the sites were exposed to full sun within a greenhouse. Records of germination were made at...

Seeds beneath the soil sense the changing environment to time germination and seedling emergence with the optimum time of year for survival. Environmental signals first impact with the seed at the seed coat. To investigate whether seed coats have a role in environmental sensing we investigated their ultraweak photon emission (UPE) under the variable temperature, relative humidity and oxygen con...