Cyperus fuscus is a representative of threatened ephemeral wetland plant communities in summer-dry shoreline habitats. We compared variation and plasticity in traits related to fitness and growth of plants germinating from the soil seed bank and established plants from river and secondary anthropogenic habitats. Plants from sites at rivers, fishponds and fish storage ponds were cultivated and selfed to get homogenous seed material for a germination and an environmental manipulation experiment involving three different water regimes. Differences in traits and their plasticities were evaluated by means of linear mixed models. Cyperus fuscus followed a low-oxygen escape strategy when flooded. Seeds of plants derived from the soil seed bank germinated faster than seeds of plants derived from established plants suggesting that short-term selection of genotypes is mediated by the particular conditions on the site during germination. The experiment revealed significant differences between river and secondary habitats as well as between the soil seed bank and established plants. For example, plants from river habitats produced the highest number of culms with inflorescences. The difference was most evident under partial submergence. Plants from fish storage ponds rapidly reached the reproductive phase, but produced less culms with inflorescences. This seemingly allows them to cope with numerous and irregular disturbances and intensive substrate moisture changes. Our results suggest that populations have adapted to conditions at secondary habitats provided by fish farming during the last centuries.

Many ephemeral mudflat species, which rely on a soil seed bank to build up the next generation, are endangered in their natural habitat due to the widespread regulation of rivers. The aim of the present study was to elucidate the role of the soil seed bank and dispersal for the maintenance of genetic diversity in populations of nearnatural river habitats and anthropogenic habitats created by traditional fish farming practices using Cyperus fuscus as a model. Using microsatellite markers, we found no difference in genetic diversity levels between soil seed bank and above-ground population and only moderate differentiation between the two fractions. One possible interpretation is the difference in short-term selection during germination under specific conditions (glasshouse versus field) resulting in an ecological filtering of genotypes out of the reservoir in the soil. River populations harbored significantly more genetic diversity than populations from the anthropogenic pond types. We suggest that altered levels and patterns of dispersal together with stronger selection pressures and historical bottlenecks in anthropogenic habitats are responsible for the observed reduction in genetic diversity. Dispersal is also supposed to largely prohibit genetic structure across Europe, although there is a gradient in private allelic richness from southern Europe (high values) to northern, especially north-western, Europe (low values), which probably relates to postglacial expansion out of southern and/or eastern refugia. K E Y W O R D SCyperus fuscus, Isoëto-Nanojuncetea, long-distance dispersal, microsatellites, ornithochory, selfing | 3621 BÖCKELMANN Et AL.

The ecology and species diversity of ephemeral wetland vegetation have been fairly well studied, but the biology of its characteristic species has rarely been investigated holistically. Here we combine previous results on the genetic diversity of a suitable model species (the diploid Cyperus fuscus) with new data on its historical and recent occurrence, its ecological and climatic niche, and the associated vegetation. Analysis of phytosociological relevés from Central Europe revealed a broad ecological niche of C. fuscus with an optimum in the Isoëto-Nanojuncetea class, extending to several other vegetation types. Overall species composition in the relevés highlight C. fuscus as a potential indicator of habitat conditions suitable for a range of other threatened taxa. Analysis of historical records of C. fuscus from the Czech Republic showed an increasing trend in the number of localities since the 1990s. It seems that recent climate warming allows the thermophilous C. fuscus to expand its range into colder regions. Isoëto-Nanojuncetea and Bidentetea species are well represented in the soil seed bank in both riverine and anthropogenic habitats of C. fuscus. Vegetation diversity has a weak negative effect and anthropogenic (compared to riverine) habitats have a strong negative effect on genetic diversity in this species.