Fern spore bank at Pedregulho (Itirapina, São Paulo, Brazil)

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Abstract
This paper presents an analysis of pteridophyte spore bank the site of Pedregulho, in Itirapina, state of São Paulo, Brazil. The samples of soil were collected in February (rainy season) and August (dry season) in four localities: open cerrado, cerradão, gallery forest and a disturbed area at depths of 0-5, 5-10 and 10-15 cm. The samples were collected in duplicate. Of the duplicates, one was used for spore counting and the second one for spore germination. In the cerrado, cerradão and gallery forest soil samples the values for pteridophyte spores were similar in the rainy and dry season, but in the disturbed area the percentage of spores was higher in the rainy season than in the dry season. The number of pteridophyte spores decreased with soil depth in the rainy season in the cerrado, cerradão and disturbed area. Gametophytes were found in all samples. In general, soil collected in the cerrado, cerradão and disturbed area in the dry season presented more gametophytes than the ones collected in the rainy season. The number of gametophytes was lower in the 10-15 cm deep samples. The present results clearly show a reserve of spores in the soil of the four different sites studied in Itirapina region, in Brazil. Thus in this region turning over of soil layers and other kinds of disturbance can bring spores to the soil surface and their germination. This is one of the first reports of a pteridophyte spore bank for Brazil, no mention of any pteridophyte spore bank is made for South America by Lindsay & Dyer (1990) and Dyer & Lindsay (1992).