Seed Bank

Seed bank is the natural storage of seeds on the soil surface or in the soil of many ecosystems
which serve as repository for the production of subsequent generations of plants to enable
their survival.
There are 2 types of seed bank depending upon the location of where the seeds are present
a) Soil seed bank b) aerial seed bank

Soil seed bank

The earlier studies of soil seed banks started in 1859 with Darwin, when he observed the
emergency of seedlings, using soil samples from the bottom of a lake. However, the first paper
published as a scientific research report was written by Putersen in 1882 studying the
occurrence of seeds at different soil depths (Roberts, 1981).
There are two types of soil seed bank depending upon the longevity of seeds which are
transient and persistent soil seed bank.
Transient soil seed banks are composed of seeds of short life and are dispersed in time for short
periods during the year (Garwood, 1989). Species like Avenua fatua, Alopecus myosuroides,
Galium aparine
Persistent seed banks are composed of seeds that have more than one year of age and reserves
of seeds remain in the soil year after year ,generally buried into the soil. Chenopodium album,
Sinapis arvensis, Aethusa cynapium, Papaver rhoeas, Viola arvensis, Kickia spuria, Capsela bursa
pastoris and Amaranthus retroflexus are examples of persistent soil seed banks (Barralis et al.,
1988).

Seed density
Buried seed densities vary widely, with rather low densities beneath woodlands (tropical and
temperate) and Arctic and alpine communities, and much higher densities beneath disturbed
habitats such as arable fields, heathlands and some wetlands (Leck et al., 1989). More than one
study has found no viable seeds at all beneath Arctic tundra, while values of well over
100000m−2 have been found in several wetlands. Seed densities beneath some other
communities, for example grasslands, are very variable.
The highest density recorded for any species (by a wide margin) is 488708m−2 for Spergularia
marina, in an inland salt marsh in Ohio, USA (Ungar, 1991).
Methodology of studying seed banks
According to Roberts (1981), the best way to determine the presence and amount the seed in
soil is to observe the seedlings emergence at the site
However, the most frequently used technique envolves the determination of the number of
seeds placing soil samples for germination in appropriate places, or using physical separation of
seeds from the soil particles, based in differences in size and density
The use of substances that promote the floatation is a good method for seed separation, but
these substances can reduce the viability of the seeds. It is, therefore, desirable to reduce the
seed exposition to the solution in order to reduce the losses in the seed viability (Buhler &
Maxwell, 1993). Several chemical substances have been used for seed separation, mainly cheap
salts not highly toxic to. Potassium and sodium carbonate and zinc calcium chlorine are
examples.

Functional significance of SSB

an annual plant with no seed bank would become extinct on the first occasion that either
reproduction or establishment failed completely, while an otherwise identical plant with a seed
bank would not. The higher the probability of complete failure of reproduction in any one year,
the more should be invested in a seed bank (Cohen, 1966).
seed banks should be most advantageous in communities of annual plants occupying habitats
that experience frequent and catastrophic, but relatively unpredictable, disturbances such as
occur in typical arable fields. At the opposite extreme, we would expect seed banks to be
unimportant in stable habitats such as mature woodlands.
Thompson et al.(1998) showed that seed persistence is greater in annuals than in related
perennials. They also looked at the distribution of seed persistence in species typical of seven
broad habitats in northern England, and found that, as expected, woodlands and arable
habitats represented the lower and upper extremes of longevity, respectively.
Severe disturbance by fire tends to select for a persistent seed bank (Lippert & Hopkins, 1950),
not least because surface-lying seeds of grasses without seed banks are killed by fire while
persistent buried seeds survive (Peart, 1984).
Aerial seed bank
A canopy seed bank or aerial seed bank is the aggregate of viable seed stored by a plant in its
canopy. Canopy seed banks occur in plants that postpone seed release for some time.
Delay in seed release, leading to formation of an aerial seed bank is one way to deal with
uncertainties of the environment

Serotiny
in some plant communities a seed bank is retained on the plant, a phenomenon usually called
serotiny.
serotiny is favoured by storage of seed in relatively massive structures (e.g. the cones of Pinus
and Proteaceae) that protect the seeds from predation and from fire.
In Pinus halepensis,acommon tree in the eastern Mediterranean, most of the annual seed crop
is retained on the tree, and many of these seeds can survive for up to 20 years (Daskalakou &
Thanos, 1996).
Canopy and soil seed banks often coexist. For example, in Greece, both pines and Cistus spp.
recruit after fires, the former by serotiny and the latter from a soil seed bank.