Assessment of dispersule availability: its practical use in restoration management

Seed dispersal and seed banks are crucial to the restoration of plant communities by nature management authorities. Knowledge of seed dispersal and seed survival of species with nature conservation interest is necessary to anticipate measures to enhance their establishment. The interpretation of the results from seed bank and seed dispersal research for conservation purposes is not always easy. In this paper, an overview is given of methods used to estimate the importance of seed bank and seed dispersal during vegetation restoration. The consequences of the methodology of seed bank and seed dispersal research for decision making in nature management are discussed. Qualitative as well as quantitative methods only provide for rough estimations of seed availability. However, such rough estimations could still prove to be very useful in restoration management.