Soil seed bank and among-years genetic diversity in arid populations of Eruca sativa Miller (Brassicaceae)

Abstract Populations of Eruca sativa from arid environments exhibit greater physiological dormancy than those that originated in more favorable ones. We tested the possible relative contribution of the soil seed bank (SSB) to the aboveground cohorts in desert and semiarid populations. Seedlings that emerged from the SSB under controlled irrigation were distinguished from those that emerged after exposure of the remaining ungerminated SSB to gibberellic acid as constituting non-dormant and dormant SSBs, respectively. On average, the total SSB was significantly larger in the semiarid than in the desert population. In both sites, the aboveground and SSB cohorts exhibited closely similar geneti…