Seed Dynamics of Betula Alleghaniensis in a Deciduous Forest of North- Eastern North America

Seed dynamics of Betula alleghaniensis (yellow birch) were studied in a sugar-maple-yellow-birch forest near Quebec, Canada. The seed rain was censured regularly during 1988 and 1989, and the soil seed bank was sampled at various times during the 1988 season. Seedlings of the 1988 and the 1989 cohorts were also surveyed. Dispersion patterns of seeds in the seed rain and in the seed bank, and of newly emerged seedlings, were contrasted. No viable seeds were shed before the end of August in 1988, although by then the cumulative seed rain totalled 222±103 seeds m −2 (mean±1 S.E.) (...)