Abstract
Invasive expansion of Robinia pseudoacacia is a worldwide problem. A method to control existing R. pseudoacacia populations is urgently needed. In addition to plants above the ground, seed banks should be targets for the management of R. pseudoacacia. We targeted an old plantation of R. pseudoacacia and its surroundings in a headwater basin to determine the spatial characteristics of the distribution. We established 49 square plots in which the number of buried seeds and seeds dispersed by wind, and several other related environmental factors were surveyed. The relationship between the spatial extent of seeds dispersed by wind and the distribution of the seed bank was analyzed. Environmental factors that potentially influenced the density of buried seeds were also analyzed. We found that barochory and anemochory were the main factors that contributed to R. pseudoacacia forming seed banks. The greatest factor controlling the density of buried seeds was slope angle; thus, transfer of seeds by rolling is important for the formation of seed banks in headwater basins. From these results, some guidelines for the management of seed banks in headwater basin are presented. First, unnecessary soil disturbance within about a 100-m buffer area around seeding trees should be avoided. Second, plantation soil from gentle slopes should not be applied for revegetation of other locations. In situations where R. pseudoacacia populations are planted on steep slopes near streams, there is a chance that seeds will be carried away and form seed banks at lower or downstream sites.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Akamatsu F, Shimano K, Denda M, Ide K, Ishihara M, Toda H (2008) Effects of sediment removal on nitrogen uptake by riparian plants in the higher floodplain of the Chikuma River, Japan. Landsc Ecol Eng 4:91–96
Anderson D, Burnham K (2001) Commentary on models in ecology. Bull Ecol Soc Am 82(2):160–161
Fenner M (1985) Seed ecology. Chapman and Hall, London
Fenner M (1995) Ecology of seed banks. Seed development and germination. Marcel Dekker, New York, pp 507–528
Glyphis J, Milton S, Siegfried W (1981) Dispersal of Acacia Cyclops by birds. Oecologia 48(1):138–141
Griz L, Machado I (2001) Fruiting phenology and seed dispersal syndromes in caatinga, a tropical dry forest in the northeast of Brazil. J Trop Ecol 17(02):303–321
Harada N, Ueda Y (2005) Record of seeds dispersed by frugivorous birds at “Nature Conservancy” in the campus of NIAES. Inventory 4:15–19 (in Japanese)
Howe H, Smallwood J (1982) Ecology of seed dispersal. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 13(1):201–228
Huntley J (1990) Robinia pseudoacacia L. black locust. In: Silvics of North America, vol 2. Hardwoods. United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Washington, DC, pp 755–761
Kim K, Lee E (2005) Soil seed bank of the waste landfills in South Korea. Plant Soil 271(1):109–121
Lambers JHR, Clark J, Lavine M (2005) Implications of seed banking for recruitment of southern Appalachian woody species. Ecology 86(1):85–95
Lee C, Cho H, Yi H (2004) Stand dynamics of introduced black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia L.) plantation under different disturbance regimes in Korea. For Ecol Manag 189(1–3):281–293
Lian C, Hougetsu T (2007) Genetic structure of Robinia pseudoacacia: case study of Tama River. For Technol 781:12–15 (in Japanese)
Lloret F, Médail F, Brundu G, Hulme P (2004) Local and regional abundance of exotic plant species on Mediterranean islands: are species traits important? Glob Ecol Biogeogr 13:37–45
Maekawa M, Nakagoshi N (1997a) Impact of biological invasion of Robinia pseudo-acacia on zonation and species diversity of dune vegetation in Central Japan. Jpn J Ecol 47(2):131–143 (in Japanese with English abstract)
Maekawa M, Nakagoshi N (1997b) Riparian landscape changes over a period of 46 years, on the Azusa River in central Japan. Landsc Urban Plan 37(1–2):37–43
Masaka K, Yamada K, Onodera K (2006) Characteristic of Robinia pseudoacacia. Koshunai Kihou 142:9–13 (in Japanese)
Matlack GR (1992) Influence of fruit size and weight on wind dispersal in Betula lenta, a gap-colonizing tree species. Am Midl Nat 128:30–39
Plass W (1977) Growth and survival of hardwoods and pine interplanted with European alder, Forest Service, US Department of Agriculture, Northeastern Forest Experiment Station
Rice S, Westerman B, Federici R (2004) Impacts of the exotic, nitrogen-fixing black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) on nitrogen-cycling in a pine-oak ecosystem. Plant Ecol 174(1):97–107
Richardson D (1998) Forestry trees as invasive aliens. Conserv Biol 12(1):18–26
Ridley H (1930) The dispersal of plants throughout the world. L. Ridley, Ashford
Shaw P (1996) Role of seedbank substrates in the revegetation of fly ash and gypsum in the UK. Restor Ecol 4(1):61–69
Takahashi A (2007) Habitat expansion of Robinia pseudoacacia L. and role of seed—seed heteromorphism and its importance. For Technol 781:8–11 (in Japanese)
Takahashi A, Koyama H, Takahashi N (2008) Habitat expansion of Robinia pseudoacacia L. and role of seed banks in the Akagawa River basin. J Jpn For Soc 90(1):1–5 (in Japanese with English abstract)
The R Development Core Team (2007) R: a language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna
Usui E (1993) Robinia pseudoacacia—Hanafuru kokage (Cultural history of plant 157). Iden 47(5):58 (in Japanese)
Wada Y (2007) Apiculture and Robinia Pseudoacacia. For Technol 781:22–25 (in Japasene)
Washitani I, Yahara T (1996) An introduction to conservation ecology: from gene to landscape. Bunichi Sogo Shuppan, Tokyo (in Japanese)
Yamada K, Masaka K (2007) Present distribution and historical background of the invasive alien species Robinia pseudoacacia on former coalmine land in Hokkaido. Jpn J Conserv Ecol 12(2):94–102 (in Japanese with English abstract)
Acknowledgments
We would like to express our gratitude to Prof. Masahiko Kadomatsu, Mr. Makoto Yamanouchi, and other staff at Hokkaido University Nakagawa Research Forest, and all the students and graduate students who greatly helped our fieldwork. This research was partially supported by the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports, and Culture through Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A), 19208013, 2007-2010.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Morimoto, J., Kominami, R. & Koike, T. Distribution and characteristics of the soil seed bank of the black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) in a headwater basin in northern Japan. Landscape Ecol Eng 6, 193–199 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11355-009-0096-1
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11355-009-0096-1