• Dormancy cycling is a key mechanism that contributes to the maintenance of long‐term persistent soil seed banks, but has not been recorded in long‐lived woody shrub species from fire‐prone environments. Such species rely on seed banks and dormancy break as important processes for post‐fire recruitment and recovery.
• We used germination experiments with smoke treatments on fresh seeds and those buried for 1 year (retrieved in spring) and 1.5 years (retrieved the following late autumn) to investigate whether Asterolasia buxifolia, a shrub from fire‐prone south‐eastern Australia with physiologically dormant seeds, exhibited dormancy cycling.
• All seeds had an obligation for winter seasonal temperatures and smoke to promote germination, even after ageing in the soil. A high proportion of germination was recorded from fresh seeds. but germination after the first retrieval was significantly lower, despite high seed viability. After the second retrieval, germination returned to the initial level. This indicates a pattern of annual dormancy cycling; one of the few observations, to our knowledge, for a perennial species. Additionally, A. buxifolia’s winter temperature and smoke requirements did not change over time, highlighting the potential for seeds to remain conditionally dormant (i.e. restricted to a narrow range of germination conditions) for long periods.
• For physiologically dormant species, such as A. buxifolia, we conclude that dormancy cycling is an important driver of successful regeneration, allowing seed bank persistence, sometimes for decades, during fire‐free periods unsuitable for successful recruitment, while ensuring that a large proportion of seeds are available for recruitment when a fire occurs.

中文翻译：

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木质灌木灌木紫锥花生理种子休眠循环的证据及其在易火系统中的生态意义。

• 休眠循环是有助于维持土壤持久持久种子库的关键机制，但尚未记录在易火环境中的长寿命木本灌木物种中。这些物种依靠种子库和休眠中断作为火后募集和恢复的重要过程。
• 我们使用发烟实验对新鲜种子和埋藏了1年（春季回收）和1.5年（第二秋季秋季回收）的种子进行了烟熏处理，以调查是否存在来自澳大利亚东南部火势频发，生理上处于休眠状态的灌木Asterolasia buxifolia。种子，表现出休眠循环。
• 即使在土壤中老化后，所有种子都有冬季温度和烟雾促进发芽的义务。记录到新鲜种子发芽的比例很高。但是，尽管种子活力高，但第一次检索后的发芽率却明显降低。第二次检索后，发芽恢复到初始水平。这表明年度休眠循环的模式；据我们所知，对多年生物种的少数观察之一。此外，buxifolia的冬季温度和烟气需求不会随时间变化，这突出说明了种子长期保持有条件休眠（即限制在狭窄的发芽条件下）的可能性。
• 对于生理休眠物种，例如buxifolia，我们得出结论，休眠循环是成功再生的重要驱动力，在不适合成功募集的无火时期，种子库的持久性（有时长达数十年）不适合成功募集，同时确保了大部分发生火灾时，种子可用于募集。