Abstract
ABSTRACT We compared seed longevity of herbaceous species in three habitat types differing in stability. We hypothesized that seed longevity is the lowest for forest species (living in stable habitat), the highest for weeds, while species of xerothermic grasslands take an intermediate value. Ten species were selected from each of the three habitats with balanced representation of plant families among habitats. Seeds of the 30 species were deep buried at 65 cm depth, then replicates recovered after 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6 years, and germinated in an unheated greenhouse. Weeds expressed the highest germination rate (36.1% in average) exceeding forest (14.4%) and grassland species (10.2%) which did not differ significantly. The number of species with transient, short-term persistent and long-term persistent seed bank, respectively, was 1, 7 and 2 for grasslands; 1, 3 and 6 for forests; and 0, 1 and 9 for weeds. As expected, weeds possessed the highest seed longevity. Contrary to our assumption, low seed longevity w...
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