COMPOSITION OF SEED BANKS OF ROADSIDES, STREAM VERGES AND AGRICULTURAL FIELDS IN SOUTHERN NORWAY

The soil seed banks of three roadsides, one horsetrack, one stream ver ge and two agricultural fields were sampled in an agricultural landsca pe in southern Norway. Altogether 61 different vascular plant species germinated from soil samples from the five linear habitats, while only 16 species germinated from the agricultural fields. The low species n umber and low seed densities in the fields probably reflect modern wee d management. Each linear habitat contained more or less specific subs ets of plant species. The relative abundance of the different species exhibited an approximately log-normal distribution. Species compositio n in the seed banks of the linear habitats was compared with the above ground vegetation. The seed bank had a higher frequency of annual spec ies than the vegetation. Surveys restricted to the aboveground vegetat ion will tend to underestimate the number of species present by 15-30% .