Effective removal of weed seeds from the seed bank ultimately depends on seed predators being active at the time and place the seeds are shed. These variations in charges of removing at shorter time scales and smaller spatial scales make it difficult to estimate the cumulative results of seed predators on the seed bank. Pure seed predation is known to reduce contributions to the standing seed bank. However developing particular recommendations for augmenting seed predation by natural populations of seed predators has been difficult by several components. Many studies of seed predation have measured large amounts of variability within the charges of seed removing inside particular person fields making it onerous to generalize about elements that tend to extend predation rates.
For instance some research shows that offering habitat refuges within the form of non-cropped buffer strips doesn’t at all times result in increased rates of seed predator activity in the sphere and in some cases could attract seed predators away from the sector Soil-dwelling fungi and bacteria can cause important mortality to weed seeds even after they have been buried and are unavailable to seed predators In some circumstances pathogenic bacteria may be present in the seeds earlier than they drop from the plant Many weed seeds are protected from fungal or bacterial degradation by a hard seed coat. However any mechanical injury to that coat by seed-feeding insects or from heat or desiccation could make seeds extra weak to pathogens. Also more numerous and diverse agricultural landscapes can enhance seed predation by birds in addition to insects.
In contrast to herbivores seed predators may not have the ability to follow chemical or visible cues to track meals sources and the foraging course of may be more random In order instances soil-borne micro organism could possibly follow chemical cues within the soil surroundings to migrate in the direction of buried seeds Solarization involves utilizing plastic covers to heat the soil to temperatures over one hundred fifty °F which causes direct harm to seeds that are not heat-tolerant and also increases the metabolic fee of soil Cobbler strain microbes There are few instances the place soil microorganisms have been successfully applied as natural bioherbicides in opposition to weed seeds due partially to species-particular pathogens that could be unable to regulate a various set of weed species Quantifying the effect of seed predators in the sphere may be tough because the rates of weed-seed removing might rely on species composition and density of weed seeds as well as seed predators; both of which might fluctuate widely inside a field and between seasons.