Abstract
Two adjacent forest sites-a mixed forest on well-drained Oxisols and a caatinga forest on waterlogged Spodosols-were similar in the number of viable seeds m-2 in the seed bank: 180 for the mixed-forest site, 200 for the caatinga site. Most germinated seeds were of successional pioneer tree species. Seeds were entering the mixed-forest seed bank at a rate of approx 50 seeds m-2 yr-1. Agricultural and pasture sites tended to have larger seed banks (580-1250 viable seeds m-2) composed almost entirely of grasses and forbs. By coupling an absolute light requirement for germination with long-lived seeds, successional species of the upper Rio Negro region are able to persist in the soil seed bank until conditions favor their successful establishment.-from Authors
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 419-425 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Botanical Gazette |
Volume | 144 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jan 1 1983 |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- General Environmental Science
- General Earth and Planetary Sciences