Aj. Devilliers et al., COMPARISON OF 2 METHODS FOR ESTIMATING THE SIZE OF THE VIABLE SEED BANK OF 2 PLANT-COMMUNITIES IN THE STRANDVELD OF THE WEST-COAST, SOUTH-AFRICA, South African journal of botany, 60(1), 1994, pp. 81-84
Due to the important role of the soil seed bank in revegetation studie
s, the viable seed content of two sites at Brand se Baai (Strandveld o
f the west coast, South Africa) was estimated by means of the emergenc
e and flotation methods. Most of the seeds were found to be small and
only 'apparent viability' was determined after flotation had been comp
leted. The average size of the seed bank different significantly betwe
en the two sites and decreased with increased sampling depth. The flot
ation method yielded a significantly larger number of seeds per square
metre than the emergence method. A combination of these two methods i
s, therefore, recommended for estimating the size of to germinable see
d bank of the Brand se Baai area, due to the problems inherent to each
method.