The role of seedbank and sown seeds in the restoration of an English flood‐meadow

Abstract

. In 1985 an opportunity arose to make use of an area (referred to as Somerford Mead) which had recently been used for intensive grass or cereal production but which originally had been a permanent hay‐meadow. Situated on circum‐ neutral alluvial soils over limestone gravel, it is in close proximity to the River Thames and to species‐rich flood meadows, including Oxey Mead (Fig. 1). This paper describes the early stages of an experiment to recreate a ‘typical’ flood‐meadow community using seed harvested from Oxey Mead. Before sowing the seed, soil samples were taken and seedling emergence suggested that little of the original flood‐meadow seed bank survived. Although Oxey Mead was known to contain at least 57 species, germination of samples of the sown seed in the glasshouse was confined to 12 species. All except Bromus commutatus and Trisetum flavescens and an additional nine Oxey Mead species were recorded in the field, together with 24 arable weed/ruderal species. Soil‐nutrient contents (N, P and K) were high; so the restoration of this flood‐meadow using only management techniques (hay cutting at the end of June and aftermath grazing) and the local seed bank would take a long time. The use of Alopecuros pratensis‐Sanguisorba officinalis seed mixture was justified by the accelerated succession on Somerford Mead towards the parent community.

Seed bank dynamics in abandoned meadows during a 20‐year period in the Białowieża National Park

“…Soil from under the canopy of willows contained seeds of meadow species, e.g. Cirsium palustre , Ranunculus acris and Lychnis flos‐cuculi (Table 3), that were no longer present in the vegetation, which confirms earlier reports that seeds of certain species are long‐lived (Cook 1980; Roberts 1981; Fenner 1985; Milberg 1990; McDonald 1993; Thompson et al . 1997).…”

“…The initial seed bank does not appear to influence the course of succession observed, contrary to the suggestion of Vankat & Carson (1991). The persistence of meadow species in the seed bank up to the formation of the forest community (Table 3), although many of them had retreated from the vegetation much earlier, confirms other reports of the formation of persistent seed banks by meadow species (Cook 1980; Fenner 1985; Thompson 1992; McDonald 1993).…”

“…The floristic composition of the seed bank is partly determined by the current species composition of communities but depends also upon the vegetation history (Grandin & Rydin 1998) and on the biological properties of plants (Harper 1977; Silvertown 1980, 1981). Factors such as fecundity, seed germination ability (Cook 1980; Fenner 1985; Baskin & Baskin 1989), longevity (Baker 1989; Rice 1989; Milberg 1990; McDonald 1993; Thompson et al . 1997), migration, mode of seed dispersal (Rabinowitz 1981), life history (Grime et al .…”

“…Juncus effusus , Urtica dioica and Scirpus sylvaticus seedlings were very rare in these plots, and thus it can be assumed that moderate disturbance during succession (by removing vegetation) preserves the floristic richness, although environmental screening leads to the continued absence of some species. The seed reservoir in the soil is therefore of great significance for the regeneration of the vegetation following disturbance, as has often been proposed (Grubb 1988; Hutchings & Russell 1989; Silvertown & Tremlett 1989; Thompson 1992; McDonald 1993; McDonald et al . 1996; Pakeman & Hay 1996; Mitchell et al .…”

The interactive effects of management on the productivity and plant community structure of an upland meadow: an 8‐year field trial

“…1997; Kirkham & Kent 1997; Willems & Bik 1998). Clearly, the sowing of seed will speed dispersal across a landscape and accelerate diversification of species‐poor swards (McDonald 1993; Stevenson, Bullock & Ward 1995). However, there is concern about the availability of appropriate local ecotypes (Akeroyd 1994; Jones & Hayes 1998) for sowing, as well as the effect of seed harvesting on grassland invertebrates (Waring 1990).…”