The seed bank is one of the key factors for the persistence and density fluctuations of plant populations, especially for annual plants. Perennial plants have vegetative propagules to facilitate forming new plants, migration into new ground, or reestablishment after being top-killed, which are analogous to seed bank in their persistence ability under disturbance. These propagules are collectively called the 'soil bud bank', and include dormant and adventitious buds on stolons, rhizomes, and bulbs. Moreover, the term soil diaspore bank can be used to include non-flowering plants such as ferns and bryophytes.
Soil seed bank is significant breeding source for vegetation restoration and species-rich vegetation restoration, as they provide memories of past vegetation and represent the structure of future population. Moreover the composition of seed bank is often more stable than the vegetation to environmental changes, although a chronic N deposition can deplete it. In many systems, the density of the soil seed bank is often lower than the vegetation, and there are a large differences in species composition of the seed bank and the composition of the aboveground vegetation. Additionally, it is a key point that the relationship between soil seed bank and original potential to measure the revegetation potential. In endangered habitats, such as mudflats, rare and critically endangered species may be present in high densities, the composition of the seed bank is often more stable than the vegetation to environmental changes[7][7],
Soil seed banks are a crucial part of the rapid re-vegetation of sites disturbed by wildfire, catastrophic weather, agricultural operations, and timber harvesting, a natural process known as secondary succession. Soil seed banks are often dominated by pioneer species, those species that are specially adapted to return to an environment first after a disturbance. Forest ecosystems and wetlands contain a number of specialized plant species forming persistent soil seed banks.
Longevity of seeds is very variable and depends on many factors. Seeds buried more deeply tend to be capable of lasting longer. However, few species exceed 100 years. In typical soils the longevity of seeds can range from nearly zero (germinating immediately when reaching the soil or even before) to several hundred years. Some of the oldest still-viable seeds were those of Lotus (Nelumbo nucifera) found buried in the soil of a pond; these seeds were estimated by carbon dating to be around 1,200 years old. One cultivar of date palm, the Judean date palm, successfully sprouted in 2008 after accidental storage for 2,000 years.
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