In annual plants, not all seeds produced in one season germinate in the subsequent growing season. Instead, some seed do not germinate and remain alive forming a population of dormant seeds in the soil termed a seed bank. Most annual species and even many perennial plants form seed banks. We are working towards a general understanding of how seed banks function, both ecologically and genetically. Seed banks are significant features of plant life histories because plants emerging from the seed bank can restore low populations sizes.
Seed banks can even buffer populations from extinction in the face of catastrophies.
In addition, seed banks can store genetic variation not seen in the growing fraction of the population thus function as a repository of genetic diversity. Understanding the ecology and evolution of seed banks is central to the conservation and protection of native biodiversity. The thread that weaves these apparently disparate research areas together is our fundamental interest in how adaptive evolution proceeds in the face of environmental unpredictability. Species that live in chronically variable environments often possess adaptations that may mitigate the consequences of the variation. Therefore environmental variation itself can select for suites of traits that allow plants to persist and reproduce, despite the unpredictability.