Seed Bank Dynamics in Mimosa pigra, an Invasive Tropical Shrub

Abstract

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.. British Ecological Society is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Journal of Applied Ecology. SUMMARY(1) The dynamics of the seed bank of the tropical weed Mimosa pigra were investigated in two regions of northern Australia by monitoring changes in the seed populations beneath mature stands, by a seed burial experiment, and by measuring the seed output of populations.(2) Seed populations were generally very high compared to the range expected for secondary tropical vegetation. For example, in 1986 they varied from 8500 m-2 in one region to nearly 12 000 m-2 in another.(3) In the seed burial experiment, viability declined with time. The rate of loss declined with increasing depth of burial, and differed between the two regions, with exponential half-lives ranging from 99 weeks at 10 cm depth in a light clay to 9 weeks at 1 cm depth in a heavier black cracking clay. These seed loss rates were within the range reported in the literature.(4) The measured seed banks broadly agreed with the values predicted by a simple model based on the rates of seed loss found in the burial experiment.(5) Although the decline in viability of M. pigra seeds can be fairly rapid, it is argued that, because of the large soil seed population, rigorous control of seedlings would have to be maintained for some years after the eradication of mature plants.

The mammalian communities in coffee plantations around a protected area in the Western Ghats, India

“…Thus, a complete eradication of lantana requires repeated uprooting of successive crops for several consecutive years (Tireman 1916). Other invasive species (e.g., Mimosa pigra in Australia; Lonsdale et al 1988) have been known to enrich the soil with their own seeds (up to 12,000 seeds/ m 2 , a number that is several times greater than seed densities recorded under other tropical secondary vegetation); lantana may be an example of a similar successful coloniser.…”

Multiple and long-term effects of an introduced predatory crab

“…Changes to the seed bank (Lonsdale et al 1988, Holmes & Cowling 1997, Drake 1998 2000). In freshwater systems, population size, recruitment, and growth of native freshwater mussels all stabilized or increased a decade after the zebra mussel invasion, but these measures have not rebounded to pre-invasion levels, and the body condition measure of native mussels remains low (Strayer & Malcom 2007).…”

Journal of Range Management, Volume 53, Number 5 (September 2000)

“…Lonsdale et al (1988) stated that persistence of seeds in soil seed banks is a critical component for maintaining populations of weedy species. Grant-Lipp (1966) indicated that rush skeletonweed seeds may acquire a secondary dormancy when exposed to high temperatures.…”