BACKGROUND Management regimes for vegetation restoration of degraded grasslands can significantly affect the process of ecological succession. However, few studies have focused on variation in the soil seed bank during vegetation restoration under different management regimes, especially in saline-alkaline grassland habitats. Our aim was to provide insights into the ecological effects of grassl...

We propose using plant microcommunities emerging from soil seed banks as experimental systems for studing species richness. We gathered soil from four Oklahoma terrestrial habitats, kept the soil moist in pots in a greenhouse, and allowed plants to germinate and interact under different conditions. Although heterogeneity among samples was minimized, we observed the often-reported unimodal relat...

Abundance, species composition, and distribution of buried seeds in a San Francisco Bay salt marsh were studied by collecting soil samples in October and February and observing seedling emergence in the greenhouse. Results were compared with existing vegetation patterns and field germination. Average numbers of buried viable seed down to a 5-cm depth were 380/ m2 in October and 700/m2 in Februa...

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...

Seed germination plays an important role in determining the composition and regeneration of plant populations (Stipa breviflora). However, the influencing factors and strategies employed for seed germination in desert grasslands under grazing remain unknown. Therefore, in this study, the reproductive allocation, seed density, seed properties, and corresponding seed germination rates of S. brevi...

We assessed the size and composition of the seed bank in 31 plots representing a range of habitats within an old-growth, temperate deciduous forest at Mont St. Hilaire, Québec, Canada. We identified 49 taxa in the seed bank, with an average of 40 species·m–2 and a median density of 1218 seeds·m–2. The most frequent seeds were species of Carex and Rubus, Diervilla lonicera, and Eupatorium rugosu...

conservation and restoration of biodiversity is very important for degraded rangeland ecosystems. it is necessary to assess the potential of soil seed bank as a major source of species. in this study, the soil seed bank size and composition were compared between exclosure and grazed areas. this was done in chahar-bagh rangelands in golestan province. soil was sampled in exclosure and grazing fr...

The high-yield varieties ‘Banks’ and ‘Cybonnet’, released to seed growers during 2004, contain the Pi-ta R gene used in blast-resistant varieties for over 16 years. While Cybonnet fields were blast free, severe blast disease developed in drought-stressed Banks growing in a sandy production field in Clay County during 2004 and then again in sandy fields throughout Arkansas during 2005 and 2006. ...

Many tropical pioneer species depend on the presence of highseeddensities inthesoil forsuccessful recruitment following canopy disturbance (Cheke et al. 1979, Dalling & Hubbell 2002, Guevara Sada & Gómez Pompa 1972, Whitmore 1983). However determinants of variation in the composition and abundance of soil seed banks remain poorly understood. Seed bank densities can be affected by rates of seed ...

Most ecological studies of fungi associated with tropical plants have focused on the rhizosphere or phyllosphere of seedlings, saplings and adult trees (Augspurger 1983, 1984; Bell et al. 2006, Gilbert 2002, Gilbert et al. 2002, Husband et al. 2002, Kiers et al. 2000, Mangan et al. 2004). However, fungi also infect the seeds of tropical trees, reducing seed survival and potentially affecting ad...