Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Does the soil seed survival of fen-meadow species depend on the groundwater level?

  • Regular Article
  • Published:
Plant and Soil Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Background and Aims

Numerous studies noted that the seed banks of drained former wet-meadows did not have enough residual seed potential for the successful restoration of species-rich fen-meadows. However, it is unclear whether a decline in groundwater level exerts a negative effect on the seed survival of wet-meadow plant species in the soil. This paper assessed the dependence of soil seed survival on different groundwater levels.

Methods

We tested the influence of the groundwater level on the seed survival rate of 8 wet-meadow plant species in fen lysimeters with constant groundwater levels of 5, 30 and 70 cm. Seeds were buried in nylon mesh bags at 2 depths (5 and 25 cm), exhumed after 1, 3 and 5 years in the spring and tested in a climate chamber for germinable seeds under conditions of different day-night rhythms and fluctuating temperatures.

Results

At both burial depths, more viable seeds survived at lower groundwater levels compared with groundwater levels near the surface. Waterlogged conditions resulted in a significant reduction in the number of germinable seeds for most of the studied plant species. A cluster analysis divided the eight plant species into three groups which differed in soil seed bank persistence and tolerance towards soil wetness.

Conclusions

The decline of the groundwater level due to fen-meadow drainage does not negatively affect the seeds of wet-meadow plant species. Our results also suggest that for some species, the classification of soil seed bank type may vary according to the groundwater level dynamic of the location.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abedi M, Bartelheimer M, Poschlod P (2014) Effects of substrate type, moisture and its interactions on soil seed survival of three Rumex species. Plant Soil 374:485–495

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ball DA, Miller SD (1989) A comparison of techniques for estimation of arable soil seed banks and their relationship to weed flora. Weed Res 29:365–373

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baskin CC, Baskin JM (1989) Physiology of dormancy and germination in relation to seed bank ecology. In: Leck MA, Parker VT, Simpson RL (eds) Ecology of soil seed banks. Academic, San Diego, pp 55–66

    Google Scholar 

  • Baskin CC, Baskin JM (1998) Seeds. ecology, biogeography and evolution of dormancy and germination. Academic, San Diego

    Google Scholar 

  • Bekker RM, Verweij GL, Smith REN, Reine R, Bakker JP, Schneider S (1997) Soil seed banks in European grasslands: does land use affect regeneration perspectives? J Appl Ecol 34:1293–1310

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bekker RM, Oomes MJM, Bakker JP (1998a) The impact of groundwater level on soil seed bank survival. Seed Sci Res 8:399–404

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bekker RM, Knevel IC, Tallowin JBR, Troost EML, Bakker JP (1998b) Soil nutrient input effects on seed longevity: a burial experiment with fen-meadow species. Funct Ecol 12:673–682

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bekker RM, Bakker JP, Grandin U et al (1998c) Seed size, shape and vertical distribution in the soil: indicators of seed longevity. Funct Ecol 12:834–842

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bewley JD, Black M (1982) Physiology and biochemistry of seeds in relation to germination, 2: viability, dormancy and environmental control. Springer, Berlin

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Cavers PB, Benoit DL (1989) Seed banks in arable land. In: Leck MA, Parker VY, Simpson RL (eds) Ecology of soil seed banks. Academic, San Diego, pp 309–328

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Drückhammer A, Wriedt S (1996) The seed bank of various moist grassland communities in Schleswig-Holstein and its importance for species. Feddes Repert 107:243–261

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ellenberg H, Weber HE, Düll R, Wirth V, Werner W (2001) Zeigerwerte von Pflanzen in Mitteleuropa. Script Geobot 18, 3rd edn. Goltze, Göttingen

    Google Scholar 

  • Fenner M, Thompson K (2005) The ecology of seeds. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Hay JR, Cumming BG (1959) A method for inducing dormancy in wild oats (Avena fatua L.). Weeds 7/8:34–1032

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hodgson JG, Grime JP, Hunt R, Thompson K (1995) The electronic comparative plant ecology. Chapman and Hall, London, pp 1–19

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Hölzel N, Otte A (2001) The impact of flooding regime on the soil seed bank of flood-meadows. J Veg Sci 12:209–218

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hölzel N, Otte A (2004) Ecological significance of seed germination characteristics in flood-meadow species. Flora 199:12–24

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Howe CD, Chancellor RJ (1983) Factors affecting the viable seed content of soils beneath lowland pastures. J Appl Ecol 20:915–922

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jensen K (2004) Dormancy patterns, germination ecology, and seed-bank types of twenty temperate fen grassland species. Wetlands 24:152–166

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaiser T, Käding H (2005) Proposal for a transformation scale between bioindicatively determined water supply levels of grassland sites and mean moisture indicator values according to Ellenberg. Arch Agron Soil Sci 51:241–246

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kasperbauer MJ, Hunt PG (1988) Biological and photometric measurement of light transmission through soils of various colors. Bot Gaz 149:361–364

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kleinke J, Succow M, Voigtländer U (1974) Der Wasserstufenzeigerwert von Grünlandpflanzen im nördlichen Teil der DDR. Arch Nat Conserv Landsc Res 14:139–146

    Google Scholar 

  • Koutecka E, Leps J (2009) Effect of light and moisture conditions and seed age on germination of three closely related Myosotis species. Folia Geobot 44:109–130

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leys C, Schumann S (2010) A nonparametric method to analyze interactions: the adjusted rank transform test. J Exp Soc Psychol 46:684–688

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Luzuriaga AL, Escudero A, Olano JM, Loidi J (2005) Regenerative role of seed banks following an intense soil disturbance. Acta Oecol 27:57–66

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maas D, Schopp-Guth A (1995) Seed banks in fen areas and their potential use in restoration ecology. In: Wheeler BD, Shaw SC, Fojt WJ, Robertson RA (eds) Restoration of temperate wetlands. Wiley, Chichester, pp 190–206

    Google Scholar 

  • Malone CR (1967) A rapid method for enumeration of viable seeds in soil. Weeds 15:381–382

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mandoli DF, Ford GA, Waldron LJ, Nemson JA, Briggs WR (1990) Some spectral properties of several soil types: implications for photomorphogenesis. Plant Cell Environ 13:287–294

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Matus G, Verhagen R, Bekker RM, Grootjans AP (2003) Restoration of the Cirsio dissecti-Molinietum in The Netherlands: can we rely on soil seed banks? Appl Veg Sci 6:73–84

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McCune B, Mefford MJ (1999) PC-ORD—multivariate analysis of ecological data. MjM Software, Gleneden Beach

    Google Scholar 

  • McDonald AW (1993) The role of seedbank and sown seeds in the restoration of an English flood-meadow. J Veg Sci 4:395–400

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Milberg P (1994) Germination ecology of the polycarpic grassland perennials Primula veris and Trollius europaeus. Ecography 17:3–8

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mordecai EA (2012) Soil moisture and fungi affect seed survival in California grassland annual plants. Plos One 7:1–8

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mourik TA, Stomph TJ, Murdoch AJ (2005) Why high seed densities within buried mesh bags may overestimate depletion rates of soil seed banks. J Appl Ecol 42:299–305

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Murdoch AJ, Ellis RH (1992) Longevity, viability and dormancy. In: Fenner M (ed) Seeds. the ecology of regeneration in plant communities. CAB International, Wallingford, pp 193–229

    Google Scholar 

  • Oomes MJM, Kuikman PJ, Jacobs FHH (1997) Nitrogen availability and uptake by grassland in mesocosms at two water levels and two water qualities. Plant Soil 192:249–259

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Pakeman RJ, Small JL, Torvell L (2012) Edaphic factors influence the longevity of seeds in the soil. Plant Ecol 213:57–65

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Patzelt A, Pfadenhauer J (1998) Keimungsbiologie und Etablierung von Niedermoor-Arten bei Ansaat durch Mähgutübertragung. Z Ökol Natschutz 7:1–13

    Google Scholar 

  • Patzelt A, Wild U, Pfadenhauer J (2001) Restoration of wet fen meadows by topsoil removal: vegetation development and germination biology of fen species. Restor Ecol 9:127–136

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pons TL (1991) Dormancy, germination and mortality of seeds in a chalk-grassland flora. J Ecol 79:765–780

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roberts EH (1972) Dormancy: a factor affecting seed survival in the soil. In: Roberts EH (ed) Viability of seeds. Chapman and Hall, London, pp 321–359

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Saatkamp A, Affre L, Dutoit T, Poschlod P (2009) The seed bank longevity index revisited: limited reliability evident from a burial experiment and database analyses. Ann Bot 104:715–724

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schütz W (2000) Ecology of seed dormancy and germination in sedges (Carex). Perspect Plant Ecol Evol Syst 3:67–89

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stroh PA, Hughes FMR, Sparks TH, Mountford JO (2012) The influence of time on the soil seed bank and vegetation across a landscape-scale wetland restoration project. Restor Ecol 20:103–112

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ter Heerdt GNJ, Verweij GL, Bekker RM, Bakker JP (1996) An improved method for seed-bank analysis: seedling emergence after removing the soil by sieving. Funct Ecol 10:144–151

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thompson K, Band SR, Hodgson JG (1993) Seed size and shape predict persistence in soil. Funct Ecol 7:236–241

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vecrin MP, Grevilliot F, Muller S (2007) The contribution of persistent soil seed banks and flooding to the restoration of alluvial meadows. J Nat Conserv 15:59–69

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Villiers TA (1973) Ageing and the longevity of seeds in field conditions. In: Heydecker W (ed) Seed ecology. Butterworths, London, pp 265–280

    Google Scholar 

  • Wobbrock JO, Findlater L, Gergle D, Higgins JJ (2011) The aligned rank transform for nonparametric factorial analyses using only ANOVA procedures. proceedings of the ACM conference on human factors in computing systems Vancouver, British Columbia. ACM Press, New York, pp 143–146

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Johannes Isselstein (Goettingen) and Jørgen Eriksen (Aarhus) for critically reading the manuscript and for their constructive comments.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Land Use Systems, Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) e.V, Eberswalder Straße 84, 15374, Müncheberg, Germany

    Thomas Kaiser

  2. Institute for Landscape Biogeochemistry, Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) e.V, Eberswalder Straße 84, 15374, Müncheberg, Germany

    Karin Pirhofer-Walzl

Authors
  1. Thomas Kaiser
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Karin Pirhofer-Walzl
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Thomas Kaiser.

Additional information

Responsible Editor: Hans Lambers.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Kaiser, T., Pirhofer-Walzl, K. Does the soil seed survival of fen-meadow species depend on the groundwater level?. Plant Soil 387, 219–231 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-014-2273-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-014-2273-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation