Open AccessRelationship between the seed rain and the establishment of vegetation in two areas abandoned after peat harvesting
Author(s) -
Salonen Veikko
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
ecography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.973
H-Index - 128
eISSN - 1600-0587
pISSN - 0906-7590
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0587.1987.tb00755.x
Subject(s) - peat , vegetation (pathology) , ecological succession , seedling , germination , ecology , seed dispersal , plant species , pioneer species , environmental science , biology , botany , agronomy , biological dispersal , medicine , population , demography , pathology , sociology
In this study the number and species composition of diaspores dispersing into two newly abandoned peat harvesting areas in Finland were investigated. In an area abandoned six years earlier a total of 2978 living seeds m −2 , representing 18 species, was captured by using water‐filled traps during two summers. In a one‐year‐old succession area the total number of living seeds m −2 was 2241, representing 16 plant species. The soil seed banks were found to be empty of viable seeds. In neither area there appeared to be any relation between number of dispersing seeds and of plant individuals of the same species in the pioneer vegetation. It is suggested that unfavourable conditions on the soil surface for seed germination and seedling growth of most dispersed species are majors factor in determining the structure of the established vegetation.