Soil temperatures after the passage of a fire: Do they influence the germination of buried seeds?

Soil temperatures down to a depth of 5 cm were measured in the days following one fire in summer, one fire in winter and in unburnt vegetation during summer. Soil temperatures did not rise above 40 degrees C after the winter fire or in unburnt vegetation during summer. Consequently, no impact on seed dormancy in the soil seedbank was expected. After a summer fire, soil temperatures above 40 degrees C were found up to 4.5 cm in depth, while temperatures above 60 degrees C were found only in the top 0.5 cm of soil. These temperatures are sufficient to break seed dormancy in some legume species in the seedbank. Hence, the season of burn may influence the number of seeds in the soil that have their dormancy broken and subsequent germination levels.