Reconstruction of local vegetation patterns by seed bank analysis - Results from three case studies in the Upper Rhine region, Germany

Results from the comparison of the local standing vegetation with seed bank analysis and germination experiments are analysed for three different study sites in southwest Germany (gravel and sandy riverbank areas near the Rhine River, scrubland in the Kaiserstuhl). It is shown that a reconstruction of the plant communities actually present in the local vegetation is not possible from observing only the fruits and seeds present in the seed bank or from the presence of viable seeds assessed in germination experiments. Seed bank analyses may be used to infer plant species distributions from extralocal or regional vegetation assemblages.