Attributes of the seed bank after a century of primary succession on islands in Lake Hjälmaren, Sweden

1   A large number of islands was created when the water table of Lake Hjälmaren, south central Sweden, was lowered between 1882 and 1886. We have complete lists of vascular plant species for 40 of these islands from 1886, 1892, 1903–04, 1927–28 and 1984–85. 2   We have investigated the seed bank on nine of these islands and compared species composition at different soil depths with the species lists from the islands in 1886–1985, and with the present vegetation in the area of seed bank sampling. We have also investigated the distribution in the soil of seeds from species with different ecological attributes, including seed longevity, successional status, seed weight, seed form and species longevity. 3   Seeds in soil samples were allowed to germinate over the course of two summers with an intermediate cold storage. We found 1944 seeds representing 65 taxa. The mean seed density was 84 seeds dm –2 . 4   The similarity between the surface soil (0–3 cm) seed bank and the vegetation at the different vegetation analyses increased from 1886 to 1993. The similarity between the present vegetation and the seed bank decreased with increasing soil depth, and the soil at 12–15 cm had no species in common with the present vegetation. Several species now absent from the vegetation were found in the seed bank. 5   Deeply buried seeds came from early successional, annual species with long‐term persistent and low‐weight seeds, as expected from seed bank theories, but were slightly elongated, which was in contrast to theories. Spherical seeds were associated with the surface soil, as were short‐lived and high‐weight seeds from late successional, perennial species.