Soil seed banks, persistence and recruitment: memories of a partially non-lived life?

Abstract

The soil seed banks are composed of seeds from distinct origins and species, including dormant and non-dormant ones. Seed banks were formed by seeds dispersed from parent plants receiving from them important information regarding the environment. The dormant seeds, especially with physiological dormancy, can persist in these banks longer than non-dormant seeds. As long as they persist, it is possible to access memories from the timing of formation and persistence in the soil seed banks. However, besides the physiological dormancy is a natural trait that assures seed germination and seedling recruitment when the environmental conditions are favorable, some practical implications can be discussed. Here I bring a perspective of how the memories of the seeds in the soil seed banks, mainly regarding dormant seeds, can help predict intraspecific variability (i.e., epigenetics) losses and what can be done to slow down this negative effect among species. Each seed is a source of genetic and memory of the time that the seed was formed in the mother plant and the timing of the permanency in the soil seed bank, therefore, each seed of each species counts for restauration efforts. This knowledge is crucial for avoiding directional selection when non-dormant and quick-germinating seeds are selected for recovering areas. Moreover, it is imperative to keep untouched areas where the soil seed banks indeed represent the structure of the reference population.