Patterns of Testa-imposed Seed Dormancy in Native Australian Legumes

“Fire seeders” during early post-fire succession and their quantitative importance in south-eastern Spain

“…As seeds of some hard-seeded species (like Fumana thymifolia) partly lose dormancy during aging, steady moderate recruitment occurs over the years. Such effects have been previously described by Thanos et al (1992) for Cistaceae or by Morrison et al (1992) for legumes. This steady loss of dormancy in physically dormant species over the years is explained by the internal-species heterogeneity of the seed coat thickness/permeability (Baskin and Baskin, 2001).…”

Deforestation strongly affects soil seed banks in eucalypt forests: Generalisations in functional traits and implications for restoration

“…>40 years; Onans and Parsons, 1980) through physical dormancy associated with hard seed coats (Baskin and Baskin, 1998;Holmes and Newton, 2004) or burial (Berg, 1975). The low representation of ant-dispersed species may be explained by a range of factors including pre-dispersal seed predation (Auld, 1986;Campbell and Clarke, 2006), gradual germination due to release from dormancy as seed ages (Morrison et al, 1992), or a decline in ant diversity typically associated with grazed and degraded woodlands (Anderson and Morrison, 1998). In addition, we may have underestimated the store of ant-dispersed seeds due to greater vertical dispersal by ants through the soil profile (Wang, 1997) and concentration of seed in and around ant nests (Auld, 1986).…”

Conversion of native forest to exotic Pinus radiata plantation: Response of understorey plant composition using a plant functional trait approach

“…The release of large, hardseeded species from dormancy as seeds age can enable them to germinate in the absence of dormancy breaking mechanisms (e.g. fire, Morrison et al, 1992). Gradual germination of seeds followed by potential mortality in low light conditions in the plantation understorey could contribute to reduced species representation.…”