The species’ seed bank in the vicinity of Arctowski is linked spatially with the extant population, as in other environments

(Wódkiewicz and Kwiatkowska-Falińska 2010). The microspatial structure of the soil seed bank in the Antarctic is highly associated with the presence of tussocks. Over 80 % of seeds extracted from soil were viable and readily germinated under optimal conditions. A large number of seedlings germinating from soil samples selleck products indicates that they are able to survive the Antarctic winter. Ubiquitin inhibitor A still open question remains if the tussocks present a safe site for the accumulation of seeds transported by wind. Acknowledgments This research was supported by the Ministry of Scientific Research and Higher Education grant 2013/09/B/NZ8/03293. The authors would like to thank Ms Anna Gasek for providing assistance with the field work. Open AccessThis article is distributed

under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License Mdm2 antagonist which permits any use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and the source are credited. References Arroyo MTK, Cavieres LA, Castor C, Humaña AM (1999) Persistent soil seed bank and standing vegetation at a high alpine site in the central Chilean Andes. Oecol 119:126–132CrossRef Baskin CC, Baskin JM (2001) Seeds ecology, biogeography, and evolution of dormancy and germination. Academic Press, San Diego Bullock JM, Moy IL (2004) Plants as seed traps: inter-specific interference Cell press with dispersal. Acta Oecol 25:35–41CrossRef Chambers JC (1993) Seed and vegetation dynamics in an alpine herb field: effects of disturbance type. Can J Bot 71:471–485CrossRef Chambers JC, MacMahon JA, Haefner JH (1991) Seed entrapment in alpine ecosystems: effects of soil particle size and diaspore morphology. Ecol 72:1668–1677CrossRef Chwedorzewska KJ, Bednarek PT (2012) Genetic and epigenetic variation in a cosmopolitan grass (Poa annua L.) from Antarctic and Polish populations. Pol Polar Res 33:63–80 Gibeault VA (1971)

Perenniality of Poa annua L. Ph.D. dissertation, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR Grime JP, Hodgson JG, Hunt R (1986) Comparative plant ecology: a functional approach to common British species. Unwin Hyman, London Hulme PE (1998) Post-dispersal seed predation and seed bank persistence. Seed Sci Res 8:513–519CrossRef Jumpponen A, Vare H, Mattson KG, Ohtonen R, Trappe JM (1999) Characterization of ‘safe sites’ for pioneers in primary succession on recently deglaciated terrain. J Ecol 87:98–105CrossRef Kejna M, Araźny A, Sobota I (2013) Climatic change on King George Island in the years 1948–2011. Pol Polar Res 34:213–235 Komárkowá V, Poncet S, Poncet J (1985) Two native Antarctic vascular plants, Deschampsia antarctica and Colobanthus quitensis: a new southernmost locality and other localities in the Antarctic Peninsula area.