Weed management systems that rely less on chemical control are needed globally. Next to curative chemical weed control, there are other ways of tackling weed problems, such as (a) reduction of the weed seed bank in the soil, (b) reduced recruitment of weed seeds from the soil seed bank, and (c) strengthening the relative competitive ability of the crop. A number of case studies are presented in...

The strong mechanistic relationship between climatic factors and seed dormancy and germination suggests that forecast climatic changes will significantly affect seed bank persistence. This review focuses on the potential impact of changing temperature, rainfall and fire regimes on the longevity of long-term persistent seed-banks. Currently, there are few studies investigating the mechanistic re...

Annual forbs form short-term persistent soil seed banks whereas perennial grasses form mostly transient ones in the central Monte desert. A conceptual framework predicts that annual forb seeds will have primary dormancy, whereas perennial grasses will have low dormancy levels. We assessed whether the dormancy traits of four annual forb species and five perennial grass species can account for th...

The Chinese Loess Plateau region has long been suffering from serious soil erosion. Thus, large-scale afforestation has continued during the past decades in order to control soil erosion. Afforestation can dramatically alter nutrient cycles, affect soil-carbon storage, and change hydrology. However, it is unknown how afforestation influences species diversity of the soil seed bank and understor...

Evaluation of the viable seeds in a soil, otherwise known as the seed pool or seed bank, is a crucial component of many weed dynamic and plant ecology studies. Seed bank estimation is used to predict the possibility of future weed infestations in rangelands as well as the nascent native plant diversity within them. However, there is no standardized method of reporting seed bank evaluation techn...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Gene flow from crops to their wild relatives has the potential to alter population growth rates and demography of hybrid populations, especially when a new crop has been genetically modified (GM). This study introduces a comprehensive approach to assess this potential for altered population fitness, and uses a combination of demographic data in two habitat types and mathemat...

a field experiment was conducted to investigate the spatial distribution of nutsedge (cyperus spp) during rice growing season using geostatic in 2011 at sari agricultural sciences and natural resources university. at the first field was divided into 36 grids (2.5×2.5 meter) after the final preparation. grid intersection points were determined and marked. all samples were taken from these points...

Throughout the southeastern United States, Rhus and Ruhm species are common associates oI the southern pines on a wide array of upland site and stand conditions. Because of their ability to overrun disturbed sites, these species are categorized as competitors to pint during stand regeneration. Since prescribed burning is often used for site preparation in advance of pine regeneration, this stud...

Seed dispersal is a major determinant of the spatial genetic structure of plant populations. In this study, we evaluated the role of distinct hydrologic regimes in determining the spatial genetic structure of the seed bank of the wetland plant Hibiscus moscheutos. We analyzed seeds in surface soil samples collected in the autumn and the following spring by determining their allozyme genotypes a...