Viable Seed Populations in Alberta Prairie Topsoils

Abstract

Naturally dissenrinated seeds in soil obtained from native and cultivated grass stands were permitte.d to g_ermina and gror.v

Restoration of Stipa kryloviisteppes in Inner Mongolia of China: Assesment of seed banks and vegetation composition

“…Unlike some previous studies, which reported striking differences between the soil seed bank and the corresponding vegetation (Douglas, 1965;Johnston et al, 1969;Rabinowitz, 1981;Hassan and West, 1986;Bertiller, 1992;Jutila, 1998), our results showed a relatively high similarity for each of the three sites. Our working hypothesis-III is generally accepted; the structure and species richness of the soil seed bank is closely related to the species composition of the current vegetation.…”

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

“…This scenario holds true for abandoned farmland, where, consistent with other studies (Johnston et al, 1969;McIntyre et al, 1995;Dorrough et al, 2004) a history of grazing has favoured introduced ruderal species (Meers et al, 2008). These species produce large numbers of persis- tent seeds and share other adaptations to disturbed sites, including rapid growth rate (see Section 4.3), a therophyte life form with low stature, and light requirement for germination (Grime, 2001).…”

Effects of sheep exclusion on the soil seed bank and annual vegetation in chenopod shrublands of South Australia

“…Johnston et al, 1969;Bertiller, 1996;Navie et al, 1996), which underestimates seed abundance and may provide biased estimates of composition as not all species may germinate under the provided conditions. On the other hand, the accuracy of seed extraction is variable and seed numbers tend to be overestimated (Gross, 1990).…”

“…Because grazing can differentially affect the inputs and outputs of the various species into the seed bank, it may result in a decrease in seed density of palatable species such as grasses (e.g. Johnston et al, 1969, Bertiller, 1996. These changes, however, will be superimposed on spatial and temporal variability, and can be, in the short-term, masked by the resilience of the seed bank.…”