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84 results for “seed banks”
Small seed bank in grasslands and tree plantations in former grassland sites in the South Brazilian highlands
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The effect of light availability and spatio-temporal heterogeneity on the soil seed bank diversity in temperate forests
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Data from: Water restriction alters seed bank traits and ecology in Atlantic Forest seasonal forests under climate change
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Impacts of wild herbivores on soil seed banks are explained by precipitation conditions in protected areas across semi-arid to arid regions
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Data from: Can the soil seed bank of Rumex obtusifolius in productive grasslands be explained by management and soil properties?
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Data from: Water level drawdown induces a legacy effect on the seed bank and retains sediment chemistry in a eutrophic clay wetland
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Long-term relationships between seed banks and wildfire across four North American desert sites
It is well documented that the recovery of dryland plant communities following wildfire can be variable, and that legacies of fire can have long lasting effects on aboveground plant communities. However, our understanding of the degree to which dryland soil seed banks, or the viable seeds in situ, are impacted by fire and their subsequent post-fire succession remains extremely poor. To address this important knowledge gap, we used a time-since-fire approach to investigate soil seed bank community changes approximately 15 and 30 years after wildfire and to determine the influence of microsites (e.g., shrub vs. interspace) on seed bank composition. We assessed soil seed bank metrics across four North American deserts, including two cold desert sites (Colorado Plateau and Great Basin) and two warm desert sites (Chihuahuan and Sonoran). In greenhouse emergence trials, we found that seed bank characteristics diverged between warm and cold desert sites, such that warm desert sites had seed banks dominated by annual plants while our cold desert sites had seed banks with greater proportions of perennial species, regardless of fire history. In cold desert sites, fire significantly altered seed bank species composition even 30 years after fire. Shrub versus interspace microsites had no observed influence on seed bank composition in any desert. However, seed bank species richness was greater under shrubs in both warm deserts. Non-native species were present in the seed banks of all deserts, and some were particularly abundant in the burned sites. Despite the presence of native species in both burned and unburned seed banks, the presence of non-native species suggests some degree of vulnerability to future disturbances because fire can create positive feedbacks with many non-native plants. Our results highlight strong differences in fires’ relationship with seed banks for warm and cold desert sites and lend insight into how fire relates to the composition and diversity of the s
Seed bank densities across an environmental gradient from the Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory from 1995 to 1998
We determined the distribution of seed bank densities of woody perennial species across 5 permanent vegetation plots. We found that the distribution of seeds in the soil was determined by the spatial location of parent trees at all sites, but that absolute densities varied significantly between plots.
Forest patch size predicts seed bank composition in urban areas
<p><b>Questions:</b></p> <p>As urban areas expand around the world, understanding how to restore and maintain forests within the urban environment becomes increasingly important. Given that a comprehensive understanding of regeneration dynamics is critical to designating appropriate management interventions we ask the following: how does regeneration, vis-à-vis the buried seed bank, vary in heterogenous urban forests? And, can forest patch size be used to predict regeneration and consequent management interventions?</p> <p><b>Location:</b></p> <p>Vacant lots and public parks throughout New Haven, CT, USA.</p> <p><b>Methods:</b></p> <p>We sampled buried seed banks in 131 plots distributed across three forest patch sizes ranging from large intact parks (95-126 ha), to small parks (1-19 ha), and vacant lots (.05-.65 ha). We collected soil samples from the surface mineral soil and stratified them over sand in a greenhouse over a period of 5 months to record germination.</p> <p><b>Results:</b></p> <p>By examining seed bank floristics in a range of forest patch sizes we found that species composition and dominance of specific functional groups shifted with patch size representing a spectrum of urbanization within just one city. Seed bank floristics in large parks more closely resembled results from seed bank studies in rural forests with over 85% native germinants on average. In contrast, vacant lots were dominated by non-native germinants and more ruderal species indicative of earlier successional stages. Seed banks in small parks were variable and in some cases were more similar to large parks or vacant lots.</p> <p><b>Conclusions:</b></p> <p>Our findings suggest that large parks in urban areas may be largely self-sustaining whereas smaller parks may require more intensive management for site rehabilitation, especially in early states of succession. Furthermore, our results confirm the highly heterogeneous nature of urban forest patches and call for more systematic sampling of urban areas to capture this variation and improve management prescriptions and outcomes.</p>
Data from: Seed banks are biodiversity reservoirs: species-area relationships above versus below ground
Soil seed banks offer plants the possibility to disperse through time. This has implications for population and community dynamics, as recognised by ecological and evolutionary theory. In contrast, the conservation and restoration literature often find seed banks to be depauperate, weedy and without much conservation value or restoration potential. One explanation for these contrasting views might lie in a systematic bias in the sampling of seed banks versus established plant communities. We use the species–area relationship as a tool to assess and compare the per-area species richness and spatial structuring of the diversity of the established plant community versus soil seed banks. To allow this direct comparison we extensively survey the species–area relationship of the vegetation and underlying seed bank of a grassland community across twelve sites spanning regional bioclimatic gradients. We also compile a global dataset of established vegetation and seed banks from published sources. We find that seed banks have consistently higher intercepts and slopes of the relationship, and hence higher diversity at any given spatial scale, than the vegetation both in the field and literature study. This is consistent across habitat types, climate gradients, and biomes. Similarity indices are commonly used to compare vegetation and seed bank, and we find that sampling effort (% of the vegetation area sampled for seed bank) was the strongest predictor of vegetation–seed bank similarity for both the Sørensen (R2 = 0.70) and the Raup–Crick (R2 = 0.25) index. Our study suggests that the perception that seed banks are intrinsically less diverse than established plant communities has been based more on inadequate sampling than on biological reality. Across a range of ecosystems and climatic settings, we find high diversity in seed banks relative to the established community, suggesting potentially important roles of seed banks in population dynamics and diversity maintenance.
Long inter-fire intervals do not guarantee a large seed bank in a serotinous shrub (Banksia spinulosa Sm.)
<p>1. It is often assumed that long-lived woody perennials with canopy-stored seed banks steadily accumulate seeds over time since fire. Trends in flowering and fruiting have usually been inferred from synchronic studies of sites of different post-fire ages or counting stored seeds in apparent age classes, and mostly in obligate-seeder species. Long-term longitudinal studies on a broader range of species are needed to fully understand the dynamics of flower and fruit production and accumulation of viable seeds. Key questions are: What is the annual trend in flowering and cone production? Is this matched by accumulation of cones and seeds? How is seed germinability related to cone age at time of a fire?</p> <p>2. We counted inflorescences and tagged cones produced annually by the resprouting shrub <i>Banksia spinulosa</i> in 315 plants over 13 years at one site and in 46 plants over 20 years at another. At the end of the study, we harvested all accumulated cones, burned them and assessed seed viability using germination trials.</p> <p>3. We detected enormous inter-plant variation in reproductive effort and output. 50% of inflorescences were produced by only 10-15% of plants. There was potential for accumulation of massive seed banks. However, (i) only 8-10% of inflorescences became cones; (ii) only 44-50 % of these were retained until harvest; (iii) many retained cones suffered seed predation; and (iv) viability of retained seeds declined with cone age. The result of these processes meant that the accumulated seed bank was only 2 to 4 seeds per plant, 82% to 94% of the viable seeds had been produced in 6 years prior to harvest, and only 12% to 26% of plants contributed to this viable seed bank.</p> <p>4. Synthesis: Cone and seed losses and declining seed viability in <i>Banksia spinulosa</i> mean that almost all viable seeds come from the past few years of flowering even though apparently intact cones may be retained for decades. If this is typical for resprouting serotinous shrubs, it is important to understand trends in flowering and fruit set over time because the magnitude of recruitment will depend on fecundity in the few years prior to a fire.</p>
Data from: Windows of opportunity for germination of riparian species after restoring water level fluctuations: a field experiment with controlled seed banks
1. Restoration activities aiming at increasing vegetation diversity often try to stimulate both dispersal and germination. In wetlands, dispersal and germination are coupled as water and water level fluctuations (WLF) simultaneously influence seed transport and germination conditions (soil moisture). Water regime shifts have been shown to affect vegetation composition. However, the interactions between WLF, dispersal and subsequent germination as drivers of such changes are still poorly understood, especially within the complexity of a field situation. 2. We tested the effect of soil moisture on ten riparian species in the greenhouse and sowed these species on 135 field locations in nine wetlands with recently restored WLF. We used quantile regressions to test the effects of WLF on the window of opportunity for germination from sown seeds and other seeds naturally dispersed to our plots, as well as on community diversity. 3. Soil moisture significantly affected germination both in the greenhouse and in the field. In the complexity of a field situation, a flooding depth just below the soil level, an intermediate flooding duration and a high flooding frequency provided the best opportunities for maximal germination. This was because these conditions enhanced germination from the seed bank as well as increasing germination from dispersed seeds. Seedling diversity showed identical patterns. 4. Other known (i.e., light conditions) and unknown factors played a role as we found low and variable germination, even under optimal conditions. We found evidence that WLF can affect vegetation zonation as flooded seedling communities contained more species with high moisture affinity. 5. Synthesis and applications. Water level fluctuations provide clear windows of opportunity for germination both from the seed bank and from dispersed seeds. Water regime changes are therefore likely to strongly affect recruitment opportunities and subsequent community assembly in riparian ecosystems, for instance through climate change or management. Water level fluctuations can be used as management tool to stimulate plant recruitment and seedling diversity in riparian wetlands.
Long-term Spartina alterniflora invasion simplified soil seed bank and regenerated community in a coastal marsh wetland
<p><span>The coastal wetland is easily invaded by alien species due to its location in the land and sea transitional area. As a potential driving regeneration force, the soil seed bank is vital to community restoration and species diversity protection. To reveal the long-term <em>S</em>. <em>alterniflora</em> invasion impact on the soil seed banks and regenerated communities, we investigated the seed banks under the different vegetation types (<em>S</em>. <em>alterniflora</em>, <em>Phragmites</em> <em>australis</em>, <em>Scirpus</em> <em>mariquete</em>, ruderal and unvegetated site) and soil depths (0–5 cm and 5–10 cm) in the Chongming island coastal salt marsh wetland. The results showed that the soil seed bank richness and species density under different vegetation types were higher than aboveground vegetation, and those of 0–5 cm seed banks were higher than 5–10 cm, except for the unvegetated site. The species richness and the <em>S</em>. <em>alterniflora</em> seed proportion in the seed banks under the <em>S</em>. <em>alterniflora</em> communities (</span><span>S.AS</span><span>) were lower and larger, respectively, than other sites. The species composition between </span><span>S.AS</span><span> and the aboveground communities showed high similarity with aggregation phylogenetic structures in two soil depths. The seed bank variations at 0–5 cm and 5–10 cm depths were interpreted 3.03% and 2.25% by aboveground communities, <span>while</span> 4.92% and 5.55% were interpreted by soil microbial biomass. </span><span>The SEM model explained 98.1% and 91.8% of the seed banks' richness at the 0–5 cm depth and 5–10 cm depth, respectively, and explained 98.8% and 46.1% of the seed banks' species density at the 0–5 cm depth and 5–10 cm depth, respectively. </span><span>The aboveground vegetation biomass and abundance directly affected the 0–5 cm seed banks' richness and species density, while its height and biomass only affected the 5–10 cm seed banks' species density. The microbial biomass of the 0–10 cm soil depth indirectly affected the richness and species density of the 0-5 cm seed bank, and only affected the richness of the 5–10 cm seed bank. Soil physical and chemical properties only indirectly affected the 0–5 cm seed banks' species density.</span><span> The results provided a reference for the ecological evaluation of the impacts of <em>S</em>. <em>alterniflora</em> invasion into the coastal salt marsh wetland of eastern China and guidance for the protection and restoration of the native plant communities.</span></p>
Species and plot characteristics for River restoration effects on dispersal and the development of riparian seed bank: Do poor seed banks limit restoration of boreal riparian zones?
<p>Vegetation composition in boreal streams in the standing vegetation and the seed bank, </p>
Forest patch size predicts seed bank composition in urban areas
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Data from: Dung beetle activity affects rainforest seed bank dynamics and seedling establishment
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Long-term Spartina alterniflora invasion simplified soil seed bank and regenerated community in a coastal marsh wetland
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Data from: Seed banks are biodiversity reservoirs: species-area relationships above versus below ground
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Long inter-fire intervals do not guarantee a large seed bank in a serotinous shrub (Banksia spinulosa Sm.)
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Data from: Windows of opportunity for germination of riparian species after restoring water level fluctuations: a field experiment with controlled seed banks
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Allen Brain Atlas
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DANDI Archive for NWB datasets
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International Brain Laboratory public data
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OpenNeuro
OpenNeuro is a free, open platform for sharing neuroimaging datasets, with public search, dataset pages, and download paths for web, S3, DataLad, and the OpenNeuro CLI.