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Are seed dormancy and persistence in soil related?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 February 2007

Ken Thompson ,
Roberta M. Ceriani ,
Jan P. Bakker  and
Renée M. Bekker
Ken Thompson*
Affiliation:
Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK
Roberta M. Ceriani
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Biologia Strutturale e Funzionale, Università degli Studi dell'Insubria, Via J.H. Dunant 3, 21100 Varese, Italy
Jan P. Bakker
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Plant Ecology, University of Groningen, PO Box 14, 9750 AA Haren, The Netherlands
Renée M. Bekker
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Plant Ecology, University of Groningen, PO Box 14, 9750 AA Haren, The Netherlands
*
*Correspondence Fax: +44 0114 2220015, Email: ken.thompson@sheffield.ac.uk
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Abstract

There is confusion in the ecological literature between seed dormancy and persistence in soil. Some ecologists seem to assume that dormancy is necessary for persistence, while others imply that dormancy and persistence are virtually synonymous. Here, we show that there is no close relationship between dormancy and persistence and, incidentally, that conventional methods of investigating soil seed banks underestimate the persistence of species with dormant seeds. The confusion appears to arise from the concept of ‘enforced dormancy’, which is not genuinely dormancy at all, and would be eliminated if ecologists adopted the definition of dormancy employed by physiologists. Dormancy is a characteristic of the seed, not of the environment, the degree of which defines the conditions required to make the seed germinate.

Keywords

seed bankseed dormancyseed longevityseed persistence
Type
Research Opinion
Information
Seed Science Research , Volume 13 , Issue 2 , June 2003 , pp. 97 - 100
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2003

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