Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T15:06:30.940Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The impact of groundwater level on soil seed bank survival

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 September 2008

R. M. Bekker ,
M. J. M. Oomes  and
J. P. Bakker
R. M. Bekker*
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Plant Ecology, University of Groningen, PO Box 14, NL-9750 AA Haren, The Netherlands
M. J. M. Oomes
Affiliation:
Research Institute for Agrobiology and Soil Fertility (AB-DLO), PO Box 14, NL-6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands
J. P. Bakker
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Plant Ecology, University of Groningen, PO Box 14, NL-9750 AA Haren, The Netherlands
*
* Nomenclature of vascular plants after Van der Meijden (1990) +31 50 3632273 E-mail R.M.Bekker@BIOL.RUG.NL
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Seed longevity of plant species is an important topic in restoration management, and little is known about the effects of environmental conditions on seed survival and longevity under natural conditions. Therefore, the effect of groundwater level on the survival of seeds in the soil seed bank of a natural grassland community was investigated. Large soil cores, mesocosms, were sampled from a grassland site and transferred to two basins under a glass roof. The mesocosms were subjected to different groundwater-level treatments (high and low, respectively 5 and 30 cm below the soil surface) for nearly three years. After that period the soil seed bank of the mesocosms was sampled. In total 15 789 seeds of 38 taxa emerged from the experiment. Significant differences between the number of viable seeds that emerged in the two treatments were found for several species. More seeds of Glyceria fluitans, Cardamine pratensis and Myosotis palustris germinated in the high water-level treatment, whereas fewer seeds of Juncus spp., Cerastium fontanum and Stellaria media were found in this treatment than in the low water-level treatment. The experiment showed that the anoxic conditions prevailing in the high water-level treatment were beneficial to the survival of seeds of species of wet grassland communities. Species of dry grasslands, although represented by only two species, survived better under aerobic conditions.

Keywords

germinationgrassesherbsmesocosmseed longevitysoil water level
Type
Ecology
Information
Seed Science Research , Volume 8 , Issue 3 , September 1998 , pp. 399 - 404
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1998

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bai, Y., Romo, J.T. and Young, J.A. (1995) Influences of temperature, light and water stress on germination of fringed sage (Artemisia frigida). Weed Science 43, 219–225.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bekker, R.M., Verweij, G.L., Reine, R., Bakker, J.P. and Smith, R.E.N. (1997) European soil seed banks: Does land use affects regeneration perspectives? Journal of Applied Ecology 34, 1293–1310.Google Scholar
Beltman, B., Van den Broek, T., Bloemen, S. and Witsel, C. (1996) Effects of restoration measures on nutrient availability in a formerly nutrient-poor floating fen after acidification and eutrophication. Biological Conservation 78, 271–277.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bewley, J.D. and Black, M. (1982) Physiology and biochemistry of seeds. 2. Viability, dormancy, and environmental control. Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Crawford, R.M.M.(Ed.) (1989) Studies in plant survival. Ecological case histories of plant adaptation to adversity. Oxford, Blackwell Scientific Publications.Google Scholar
Frankland, B., Bartley, M.R. and Spence, D.H.N. (1987) Germination under water. pp 167–178in Crawford, R.M.M. (Ed.) Plant life in aquatic and amphibious habitats. Oxford, Blackwell Scientific Publications.Google Scholar
Grime, J.P., Hodgson, J.G. and Hunt, R. (1988) Comparative plant ecology: a functional approach to common British species. London, Unwin Hyman.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gross, K.L. (1990) A comparison of methods for estimating seed numbers in the soil. Journal of Ecology 78, 348–355.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hendry, G.A.F. (1994) Oxygen and environmental stress in plants: An overview. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Section B (Biological Sciences) 102, 1–10.Google Scholar
Hutchings, M.J. (1986) Plant population biology. pp 377–435in Moore, P.D., Chapman, S.B. (Eds) Methods in plant ecology. 2nd Ed., Oxford, Blackwell.Google Scholar
Ibrahim, A.E., Roberts, E.H. and Murdoch, A.J. (1983) Viability of lettuce seeds. II. Survival and oxygen uptake in osmotically controlled storage. Journal of Experimental Botany 34, 631–640.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jukaine, H.V. and Laiho, R. (1995) Long-term effects of water level drawdown on the vegetation of drained pine mires in southern Finland. Journal of Applied Ecology 32, 785–802.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Karssen, C.M. and Hilhorst, H.W.M. (1992) Effect of chemical environment on seed germination. pp 327–348in Fenner, M. (Ed.) Seeds. The ecology of regeneration of plant communities. Wallingford, UK, CAB INTERNATIONAL.Google Scholar
Keddy, P.A. and Constabel, P. (1986) Germination of ten shoreline plants in relation of seed size, soil particle size and water level: an experimental study. Journal of Ecology 74, 133–141.Google Scholar
Koerselman, W., Van Kerkhoven, M.B. and Verhoeven, J.T.A. (1993) Release of inorganic N, P and K in peat soils; effect of temperature, water chemistry and water level. Biogeochemistry 20, 63–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leck, M.A. (1996) Germination of macrophytes from a Delaware River tidal freshwater wetland. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 123, 48–67.Google Scholar
Longchamps, J.P. and Gora, M. (1979) Influences of oxygen deficiencies on the germination of weed seeds. Oecologia Plantarum 14, 121–126.Google Scholar
Morinaga, T. (1926a) Germination of seeds under water. American Journal of Botany 13, 126–140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morinaga, T. (1926b) The favourable effect of reduced oxygen supply upon the germination of certain seeds. American Journal of Botany 13, 159–166.Google Scholar
Muenscher, W.C. (1936) Storage and germination of seeds of aquatic plants. Cornell University Agriculturual Experiment Station Bulletin No. 652.Google Scholar
Murdoch, A.J. and Ellis, R.H. (1992) Longevity, viability and dormancy. pp 193–230in Fenner, M. (Ed.) Seeds, The ecology of regeneration of plant communities. Wallingford, UK, CAB INTERNATIONAL.Google Scholar
Oomes, M.J.M., Olff, H. and Altena, H. (1996) Effects of vegetation management and raising the water table on nutrient dynamics and vegetation changes in a wet grassland. Journal of Applied Ecology 33, 576–588.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oomes, M.J.M., Kuikman, P.J. and Jacobs, F.H.H. (1997) Nitrogen availability and uptake by grassland in mesocosms at two water levels and two water qualities. Plant and Soil 192, 249–259.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pfadenhauer, J. and Klötzli, F. (1996) Restoration experiments in middle European wet terrestrial ecosystems: An overview. Vegetatio 126, 101–115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Priestley, D.A. (1986) Seed ageing: Implications for seed storage and persistence in the soil. Ithaca, USA, Comstock.Google Scholar
Roberts, E.H. and Ellis, R.H. (1989) Water and seed survival. Annals of Botany 63, 39–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shipley, B. and Parent, M. (1991) Germination responses of 64 wetland species in relation to seed size, minimum time to reproduction and seedling relative growth rate. Functional Ecology 5, 111–118.Google Scholar
Skoglund, J. and Verwijst, T. (1989) Age structure of woody species populations in relation to seed rain, germination and establishment along the river Dalälven, Sweden. Vegetatio 82, 25–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ter Heerdt, G.N.J., Verweij, G.L., Bekker, R.M. and Bakker, J.P. (1996). An improved method for seed bank analysis: seedling emergence after removing the soil by sieving. Functional Ecology 10, 144–151.Google Scholar
Thompson, K., Bakker, J.P. and Bekker, R.M. (1997) Soil seed banks of North-West Europe: Methodology, density and longevity. Cambridge, University Press.Google Scholar
Van der Meijden, R. (1990) Heukels’ Flora van Nederland. 21th edition, Groningen, Wolters-Noordhoff.Google Scholar
Villiers, T.A. (1972) Ageing and the longevity of seeds in field conditions. pp 265–288in Heydecker, W. (Ed.) Seed ecology. Proceedings of the nineteenth Easter School in Agricultural Science, University of Nottingham, London, Butterworth and Co.Google Scholar
Villiers, T.A. and Edgecumbe, D.J. (1975) On the cause of seed deterioration in dry storage. Seed Science and Technology 3, 761–774.Google Scholar
Wheeler, B.D., Shaw, S.C. and Cook, R.E.D. (1992) Phytometric assessment of the fertility of undrained rich-fen soils, Journal of Applied Ecology 29, 466–475.CrossRefGoogle Scholar