Knowledge on seed dormancy is crucial for the understanding of plant population dynamics, as it controls seed germination and seed bank formation. Dormant seeds have high potential to establish in soil seed banks, but such information within Cactaceae is scarce, although it is essential for conservation programs. The aim of this study was to determine if seeds of Ferocactus peninsulae showed any kind of dormancy and to test their germination capacity after storage. This was assessed with 15 seed sowing experiments done over 4 years with seeds stored under room conditions (20 ± 2°C). We demonstrated the existence of physiological dormancy in F. peninsulae seeds that is broken with an after‐ripening period. Germination was low during the first 3 months of storage (d = 0.206) but increased after 10 months of storage (d = 0.654), and seeds maintained their viability at 48 months (d = 0.707). Also, their speed of germination increased with storage time. Ferocactus peninsulae seeds are positively photoblastic, and the requirement for light for germination persisted over all experiments. The results provide crucial information for propagation and conservation research and may allow us to infer that F. peninsulae seeds are able to form a persistent soil seed bank, as they maintained their viability after dormancy is released.

The diverse offspring of clonal species differ in their dispersability, influencing genotypic diversity and clonal structure. Here, we determined dispersal patterns and their impact on genetic structure in Opuntia microdasys, a self‐incompatible cactus with three dispersal units (one sexual and two clonal). We analyzed dispersal, using experiments at three populations, and assessed multilocus genotypes (ISSR markers) of all individuals in 10 clumps per population with known reproductive origin (sexual or clonal). Genotype of all samples, population structure, and migration between clumps and populations were assessed with GenAlEx and GenoDive, assuming higher genotypic diversity and migration when sexual reproduction is more frequent. We determined the most likely number of genetic clusters with STRUCTURE and geneland. Dispersal differed among populations; primary dispersal occurred at short distances and was farthest on steep slopes, and dispersal distance increased after secondary dispersal. Clumps had 116 different multilocus genotypes in three spatially explicit genetic clusters. We detected genetic structure at small scale, genotypic diversity among clumps varied between populations; diversity decreased while clonal dominance increased, and the most variation occurred among clumps. Genetic structure was moderate, suggesting gene flow by seed dispersal allows slight differentiation among population at large scales. Genetic diversity within clumps was the lowest because dispersal of clonal propagules was limited and caused genotypic dominance at local scale. However, the combined dispersal pattern of sexual and clonal dispersal units is fine‐tuned by environmental factors, generating a range of genetic diversity among clusters and populations. This pattern suggests that genetic structure of clonal plants is more dynamic than thought, and dispersal of different types of offspring affects genetic structure at many scales.