Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T22:25:06.689Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Soil seed banks in primary and secondary deciduous forest in Białowieża, Poland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 September 2008

Małgorzata Jankowska-Błaszczuk  and
Peter J. Grubb
Małgorzata Jankowska-Błaszczuk
Affiliation:
Department of Botany, Pedagogical University of Kielce, 15 Konopnicka Street, 25-406 Kielce, Poland
Peter J. Grubb*
Affiliation:
Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EA, UK
*
*Correspondence
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Germination over 3 years was followed in 25 soil samples of 31 × 31 × 5 cm each from primary and secondary stands in Białowieża forest, Poland. The number of seedlings emerging and the number of species declined over the 3 years. In year 1 the mean densities of emerging seedlings for the primary and secondary stands were similar (2142 m−2 and 2488 m−2 respectively); in year 3 the difference was greater (248 vs 498 m−2) but not statistically significant. The trend reflected the greater longevity of the seed bank species characteristic of the secondary forest. Two functional groups of herb and shrub species were distinguished in the seed bank based on (a) frequency as adults in the present vegetation, and (b) relative abundance in the seed banks of primary and secondary forest. Group A species need large-scale gaps in the tree canopy; most have very small seeds (<0.15 mg mean dry mass) and are very persistent in the soil. Group B species benefit from single-treefall gaps in the tree canopy, but appear to be suited primarily to gaps in the canopy of the herb layer and in the root layer made mainly by animals; their seeds are not as small (mostly >0.15 mg) and not as persistent in the soil. Group B species made up 86% of the seedlings emerging over 3 years in soil from the primary stand, and 56% of those from the secondary stand. In the laboratory all five Group B species tested showed some inhibition of germination in darkness, but only one showed unequivocal inhibition by far-red-enrichment of low irradiance light.

Keywords

soil seed bankdisturbanceshade-toleranceherb layerdeciduous forestprimary foresttemperate forest
Type
Ecology
Information
Seed Science Research , Volume 7 , Issue 3 , September 1997 , pp. 281 - 292
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1997

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

Bewley, J.D. and Black, M. (1982) Physiology and biochemistry of seeds, Vol. 2. Viability, dormancy and environmental control. Berlin, Springer.Google Scholar
Brown, A.H.F. and Warr, S.J. (1992) The effects of changing management on seed banks in ancient coppices. pp 147–166in Buckley, G.P. (Ed.) Ecology and management of coppice woodlands. London, Chapman and Hall.Google Scholar
Canham, C.D. and Marks, P.L. (1985) The response of woody plants to disturbance: patterns of establishment and growth. pp 197–216in Pickett, S.T.A. and White, P.S. (Eds) The ecology of natural disturbance and patch dynamics. Orlando, Academic Press.Google Scholar
Collins, B. and Pickett, S.T.A. (1988) Demographic responses of herb layer species to experimental gaps in a northern hardwoods forest. Journal of Ecology 76, 437–450.Google Scholar
Čsapody, V. (1968) Keimlings Bestimmungs Buch der Dikotiledonen. Budapest, Akadémiai Kiadó.Google Scholar
Donelan, M. and Thompson, K. (1980) Distribution of buried viable seeds along a successional series. Biological Conservation 17, 297–311.Google Scholar
Ellenberg, H. (1988) Vegetation ecology of Central Europe. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Evans, M.N. and Barkham, J.P. (1992) Coppicing and natural disturbance in temperate woodlands — a review. pp 80–98in Buckley, G.P. (Ed.) Ecology and management of coppice woodlands. London, Chapman and Hall.Google Scholar
Faliński, J.B. (1986) Vegetation dynamics in temperate lowland primaeval forests. Dordrecht, Junk.Google Scholar
Faliński, J.B., Canullo, R. and Biały, K. (1988) Changes in the herb layer, litter fall and soil properties under primary and secondary tree stands in a deciduous forest ecosystem. Phytocoenosis 1 (NS), 1–49.Google Scholar
Graber, R.E. and Thompson, D.F. (1978) Seeds in the organic layers and soil of four beech-birch-maple stands. Research Paper – USDA Forest Service No. NE-401.Google Scholar
Grime, J.P. (1979) Plant strategies and vegegation processes. Chichester, Wiley.Google Scholar
Grime, J.P. and Jarvis, B.C. (1975) Shade avoidance and shade tolerance in flowering plants II: effects of light on the germination of species of contrasted ecology. pp 525–532in Evans, G.C., Bainbridge, R. and Rackham, O. (Eds) Light as an ecological factor: II. Symposia of the British Ecological Society 16. Oxford, Blackwell Scientific Publications.Google Scholar
Grime, J.P., Mason, G., Curtis, A.V., Rodman, J., Band, S.R., Mowforth, M.A.G., Neal, A.M. and Shaw, S. (1981) A comparative study of germination characteristics in a local flora. Journal of Ecology 69, 1017–1059.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grubb, P.J. (1988) The uncoupling of disturbance and recruitment, two kinds of seed bank, and persistence of plant populations at the regional and local scales. Annales Zoologici Fennici 25, 23–36.Google Scholar
Grubb, P.J. (1996) Rainforest dynamics: the need for new paradigms. pp 215–233in Edwards, D.S., Booth, W.E. and Choy, S.C. (Eds) Tropical rainforest research: current issues. Dordrecht, Kluwer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grubb, P.J. and Marks, P.L. (1989) Spring flowers of deciduous forests in Europe and eastern North America. Plants Today 2, 89–96.Google Scholar
Hendry, G.A.F., Thompson, K., Moss, C.J., Edwards, E. and Thorpe, P.C. (1994) Seed persistence: a correlation between seed longevity in the soil and ortho-dihydroxyphenol concentration. Functional Ecology 8, 658–664.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hill, M.O. and Stevens, P.A. (1981) The density of viable seed in soils of forest plantations in upland Britain. Journal of Ecology 69, 693–709.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leck, M.A., Parker, V.T. and Simpson, R.L.(Eds) (1989) Ecology of soil seed banks. London, Academic Press.Google Scholar
Lutz, H.J. (1945) Vegetation on a trenched plot twenty-one years after establishment. Ecology 26, 200–202.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marquis, D.A. (1975) Seed storage and germination under northern hardwood forest. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 5, 478–484.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Metcalfe, D.J. (1996) Germination of small-seeded tropical rain forest plants exposed to different spectral compositions. Canadian Journal of Botany 74, 512–520.Google Scholar
Metcalfe, D.J. and Grubb, P.J. (1995) Seed mass and light requirement for regeneration in south east Asian rain forest. Canadian Journal of Botany 73, 817–826.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nakagoshi, N. (1984) Buried viable seed populations in forest communities on the Hiba Mountains, southwestern Japan. Journal of Science of the Hiroshima University, Series B, Division 2 19, 1–56.Google Scholar
Nakagoshi, N. (1985) Buried viable seeds in temperate forests. pp. 551–570in White, J. (Ed.) The population structure of vegetation. Dordrecht, Junk.Google Scholar
Nakashizuka, T. and Numata, M. (1982) Regeneration processes of climax beech forest. I. Structure of a beech forest with the undergrowth of Sasa. Japanese Journal of Ecology 32, 57–67.Google Scholar
Oosting, H.F. and Humphreys, M.E. (1940) Buried viable seeds in a successional series of old field and forest soils. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 67, 253–273.Google Scholar
Pirożnikow, E. (1983) Seed bank in the soil of stabilized ecosystem of a deciduous forest (Tilio-Carpinetum) in the Białowieża National Park. Ekologia Polska 31, 145–172.Google Scholar
Platt, W.J. (1975) The colonization and formation of equilibrium plant species associations on badger disturbances in tall-grass prairie. Ecological Monographs 45, 285–305.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rackham, O. (1975) Hayley Wood: its history and ecology. Cambridge, Cambridge and Isle of Ely Naturalists Trust.Google Scholar
Siccama, T.G., Bormann, F.H. and Likens, G.E. (1970) The Hubbard Brook ecosystem study: productivity, nutrients and phytosociology of the herbaceous layer. Ecological Monographs 40, 389–402.Google Scholar
Slaviková, J. (1958) Einfluss der Buche (Fagus sylvatica L.) als Edificator auf die Entwicklung der Krautschicht in Buchenphytozönosen. Preslia 30, 19–42.Google Scholar
Staaf, H., Jonsson, M. and Olsen, L.-G. (1987) Buried germinative seeds in mature beech forests with different herbaceous vegetation and soil types. Holarctic Ecology 10, 268–277.Google Scholar
Thompson, K. (1992) The functional ecology of seed banks. pp 231–257in Fenner, M. (Ed.) Seeds and ecology of regeneration in plant communities. Wallingford, CAB INTERNATIONAL.Google Scholar
Thompson, K. and Grime, J.P. (1979) Seasonal variation in the seed banks of herbaceous species in ten contrasting habitats. Journal of Ecology 67, 893–921.Google Scholar
Tutin, T.G., Heywood, V.H., Burges, N.A., Moore, D.M., Valentine, D.H., Walters, S.M. and Webb, D.A. (1964–1980) Flora Europaea, Vols 1–5. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Vankat, J.L. and Carson, W.P. (1991) Floristics of a chronosequence corresponding to old field deciduous forest succession in southwestern Ohio. III. Post disturbance vegetation. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 118, 385–391.Google Scholar