Distinctive seed dispersal and seed bank patterns of invasive African grasses favour their invasion in a neotropical savanna.

High propagule availability compared to native species is often critical to invasion success, but it is unclear if this has contributed to invasions by African grasses in Neotropical savannas. We compared patterns of occurrence in the vegetation, seed rain and seed bank among African and native grasses in Cerrado sites in southeastern Brazil. In grasslands and savannas, we obtained the abundance of grasses in the vegetation, in the seed rain (monthly for one year) and in the seed bank (rainy and dry season), and assessed seed limitation and relationships among compartments.