Abstract
The minimum information about a seed bank needed for a wetland restoration or creation project is a species list. There are two basic techniques for determining the composition of seed banks: (1) mechanical separation of seeds from a volume of soil and (2) germination of seeds from a volume of soil under appropriate environmental conditions. The latter method always gives biased results. It is best to collect as many random samples as possible when sampling a wetland seed bank. These can be combined as needed for processing. Field studies in India have demonstrated that vestigial seed banks can be used to re-establish a former vegetation type in a monsoonal wet-land that had become overgrown by a species of grass. In less than a year, 9 of 1 I species in the vestigial seed bank were found growing in areas cleared of the grass. Vestigial seed banks of drained prairie wetlands in the northcentral United States contained a few wetland species after 70 years, although species diversity and seed density declined significantly after 20 to 30 years of drainage and cultivation. In Florida, U.S.A., wetlands have been established in strip-mined areas using donor soils from existing wetlands. Newly established wetlands quickly developed a dense cover of vegetation, although this vegetation often lacked many desirable wetland species. Experimental studies of soil moisture conditions using a seed bank from the Delta Marsh, Canada, demonstrated that soil moisture affected both the total number of seeds, and the relative proportion of seeds of each species that germinated from a seed bank. The density of seedlings of emergent wetland species in the treatments was directly proportional to soil moisture, while that of terrestrial annuals was inversely proportional. Emergent species made up nearly 90% of the seedlings in the wettest treatment and 0% in the driest.
Sommaire
Un project de restauration ou création éxige quelque information concernant le stock grainier, au moins une liste d'espèces. Il y a deux techniques fondamentales pour la détermination de la composition dun stock grainier: la séparation des graines d'un volume du sol et la germination des graines dun volume du sol sous conditions du milieu appropriées. La dernière technique donne toujours des résultats partiaux. En échantillonnant un stock grainier dun marécage, il est bon de prendre autant d'échantillons pris au hasard que possible. Ces échantillons peuvent être combinés defaçon nécessaire pour le traitement. Les études faites sur le terrain dans l'Inde ont dé-montré que les stocks grainiers qui ont persisté peuvent être utilisés dans le rétablissement d'une type préexistant de vegetation dans un marécage de mousson qui a été recouvert par une espèce d'herbe. Les stocks grainiers qui ont persisté dans les marécages de prairie drainés au nord-centre des Etats-Unis indiquèrent que quelques espèces des marécages étaient toujours présentes après 70 ans, mais que la diversité des espèces et la densité des graines avaient baissé d'une manière significative après 20 à 30 ans de culture et drainage. En Floride, aus Etats-Unis, de marécages ont été établis en quelques régions minières en utilisant sols “donateurs” de marécages. Les marécages ainsi établis développèrent rapidement un tapis végétal dense, mais cette végetation manquait souvent plusieurs espèces désirables. Les études experimentales des conditions de l'humidité du sol en utilisant un stock grainier de Delta Marsh (Canada) démontra que l'humidité du sol affecta le nombre total des graines, et aussi affecta la proportion rélative des graines de chaque espèce qui germinent du stock grainier. L'abondance de jeunes plantes émergentes dans le traitment était directement proportionelle à l'humidité du sol, tandis que celle des plantes annuelles était inversement proportionelle. Les espèces émergentes formèrent presque 90% des jeunes plantes dans le traitement le plus humide et 0% dans le plus sec.
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van der Valk, A.G., Pederson, R.L. & Davis, C.B. Restoration and creation of freshwater wetlands using seed banks. Wetlands Ecol Manage 1, 191–197 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00244924
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00244924