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Small-scale seed-bank patterns in a forest soil

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 November 2009

Jan Plue ,
Geertrui Goyens ,
Marc Van Meirvenne ,
Kris Verheyen  and
Martin Hermy
Jan Plue*
Affiliation:
Division for Forest, Nature and Landscape Research, Catholic University Leuven (KULeuven), Celestijnenlaan 200E, B-3001Belgium
Geertrui Goyens
Affiliation:
Division for Forest, Nature and Landscape Research, Catholic University Leuven (KULeuven), Celestijnenlaan 200E, B-3001Belgium
Marc Van Meirvenne
Affiliation:
Research Group Soil Spatial Inventory Techniques, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, B-9090Belgium
Kris Verheyen
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Forestry, Ghent University, Geraardsbergsesteenweg 267, B-9090Belgium
Martin Hermy
Affiliation:
Division for Forest, Nature and Landscape Research, Catholic University Leuven (KULeuven), Celestijnenlaan 200E, B-3001Belgium
*
*Correspondence Fax: +3216329760 Email: Jan.plue@ees.kuleuven.be
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Abstract

The forest seed bank has been demonstrated to vary spatially at scales from 2 to 10 m. To our knowledge, the fine-scale spatial structure, i.e. < 2 m, has not been studied before. This study aims to make a thorough investigation of fine-scale spatial structure. Soil samples (128) were collected from each of five 2.1 m × 2.1 m plots, using a combined systematic (64) and random design (64). This allowed investigation of the fine-scale spatial structure of individual species–plot combinations using indicator-variograms. Our results indicated that over half of all species recorded in a particular plot were spatially structured. Remarkably, the presence of spatial structure seemed independent of species frequency. Visualization of the spatial structure showed an irregular spatial pattern, i.e. seed clusters that were randomly distributed in space. Spatial dependence occurred over small distances, possibly suggesting that a significant proportion of seeds was deposited near the mother plant. We conclude by presenting the relevance and implications of small-scale spatial seed-bank patterning for seed-bank sampling.

Keywords

deciduous forestfine-scale spatial structuregeostatisticsindicator-variogramsampling implications
Type
Research Article
Information
Seed Science Research , Volume 20 , Issue 1 , March 2010 , pp. 13 - 22
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

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