Seeds in soil banks can survive for many years before conditions become more suitable for germination. Meanwhile, seeds undergo changes in morphology and viability. In this study, we launched an artificial seed bank experiment that included 26 species of seeds. We excavated cohorts for 6–8 consecutive years after burial (YAB) in order to determine changes in the morphology (mass, volume, density, seed form) and proportion of fresh (thus persistent) seeds using a crush test as a measure of persistence. The change in seed morphology was fitted by linear and logistic regression, and the proportion of persistent seeds was fitted by logistic regression (effectively by the binomial GLM), which enabled estimation of 50 and 5% persistence times (PT₅₀ and PT₀₅). We found that in most species, seed mass, volume and proportion of persistent seeds declined with YAB, while other morphological traits were less variable, and the decline in these traits with YAB was best fitted with logistic regression. The decline in the proportion of persistent seeds was better fitted by the change in mass than by YAB in some species. Among the species included in this study, PT₅₀ ranged from 1.2 to 10.5 years, and PT₀₅ ranged from 2.1 to 24.3 years. These results can contribute to better understanding of the ecology of weed seed bank persistence in soil. Describing the morphological changes that the seeds undergo in the soil bank may improve our understanding of the biology of seed persistence and facilitate the identification of seeds from the soil bank.

中文翻译：

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土壤中埋葬引起的草本种子形态特征的持久性和变化

在条件变得更适合发芽之前，土壤库中的种子可以生存多年。同时，种子经历形态和生存力的变化。在这项研究中，我们启动了一个人工种子库实验，其中包括26种种子。我们埋藏（出土后队列连续6-8年YAB，以便确定在形态（质量，体积，密度，种子形式）的变化和新鲜的比例），使用的压裂试验作为持久性的量度（从而持久）种子。种子形态的变化通过线性和逻辑回归拟合，而持久性种子的比例通过逻辑回归拟合（通过二项式GLM有效），这可以估算50和5％的持续时间（PT ₅₀和PT₀₅）。我们发现，在大多数物种中， YAB降低了种子的质量，体积和持久性种子的比例，而其他形态性状的变异较小，而YAB降低的这些性状最适合进行逻辑回归。在某些物种中，质量变化比YAB更能适应持久性种子比例的下降。在这项研究中包括的物种中， PT _50的年限为1.2至10.5年，而PT ₀₅范围从2.1到24.3年。这些结果可以有助于更好地了解杂草种子库在土壤中的持久性生态。描述种子在土壤库中经历的形态变化可能会增进我们对种子持久性生物学的理解，并有助于从土壤库中鉴定种子。