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Survival of a lowland heathland seed bank after a 33-year burial

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 September 2008

Ken Thompson  and
Stuart R. Band
Ken Thompson*
Affiliation:
Unit of Comparative Plant Ecology, Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, The University, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK
Stuart R. Band
Affiliation:
Unit of Comparative Plant Ecology, Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, The University, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK
*
*Correspondence
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Abstract

Soil samples were collected from the original land surface beneath an experimental earthwork, constructed in 1963 at Morden Bog, Dorset, England, and excavated in 1996. Large numbers of seeds of Calluna vulgaris, Erica cinerea and E. tetralix germinated from the samples, but other species present in the original flora, including Ulex minor and several grasses, were absent. The results confirm the previously-documented longevity of Calluna and E. tetralix, and for the first time demonstrate similar longevity in E. cinerea.

Keywords

Ericaceaegerminationseed banksseed longevityseed persistence
Type
Short Communication
Information
Seed Science Research , Volume 7 , Issue 4 , December 1997 , pp. 409 - 411
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1997

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