Abstract
The survival and germination of buried seeds in a tropical rain forest were examined for 45 spp. of woody plants at Pasoh Forest Reserve, West Malaysia, The fresh viable seeds were packed in bags made of aluminum mesh and were burried in soil at 5 cm depth under closed canopy. The seed bags were successively sarnpled at three months to three years after burial and the fate of seeds was checked. Germination tests under the open site conditions in a greenhouse were also conducted for fresh seeds and the exhumed seeds. Survival curves of bur{ed seeds were fitted by the Weibul distribution model and the mean life span of ungerminated viable seed was estimated. Although most primary forest species had short-lived seeds, 16% of primary forest specie$ had a mean life span exceeding one year, The mean life span of secondary forest species varied between shorter than 1,5 months and longer than ten years and 77% of secondary species had a mean life span exceeding one year. Furthermore, the mean life span of seed significantly depended on the germination type, fruit morphology, and seed weight. The long-lived seeds of secondary forest species germinated rapidly under open-site conditions, while few germinations were recorded for the seed population buried in the forest so{l, The long-lived seeds of primary forest species germinated slowly even in the forest soil, and their delayed germination in the forest soil may result from their woody endocarp surrounding seeds.
