Persistent seeds predict invasiveness | Science

Understanding the biological traits that predict the potential of an organism to colonize and occupy new territory is key to ameliorating and combating the problem of alien species invasion, a problem that has been exacerbated by global networks of travel and trade. In an analysis of seed trait data from 2350 angiosperm species, Gioria et al. found that the ability of seeds to form a persistent seed bank in the soil (where persistence was defined as >1 year) was strongly associated with potential to become naturalized or invasive. Adding seed persistence to the suite of plant traits that predict invasiveness may be beneficial to efforts to prevent or eradicate new introductions before they are beyond control.

Ecol. Lett. 10.1111/ele.13783 (2021).