Dormancy and endosperm presence influence the conservation potential in central European calcareous grassland plants.

The preservation of plant species under conditions in seed banks strongly depends on seed longevity. However, detailed knowledge on this seed ecological aspect is limited and comparative studies from central European habitats are scarce. Therefore, we investigated the seed longevity of 39 calcareous grassland species in order to assess the prospects of storage of seeds originating from a single, strongly threatened habitat.

Species distribution modeling and molecular markers suggest longitudinal range shifts and cryptic northern refugia of the typical calcareous grassland species (horseshoe vetch).

Calcareous grasslands belong to the most diverse, endangered habitats in Europe, but there is still insufficient information about the origin of the plant species related to these grasslands. In order to illuminate this question, we chose for our study the representative grassland species (Horseshoe vetch). Based on species distribution modeling and molecular markers, we identified the glacial refugia and the postglacial migration routes of the species to Central Europe.