Large and non-spherical seeds are less likely to form a persistent soil seed bank

There is some evidence that seed traits can affect the long-term persistence of seeds in the soil. However, findings on this topic have differed between systems. Here, we brought together a worldwide database of seed persistence data for 1474 species to test the generality of seed mass-shape-persistence relationships. We found a significant trend for low seed persistence to be associated with larger and less spherical seeds. However, the relationship varied across different clades, growth forms and species ecological preferences. Specifically, relationships of seed mass-shape-persistence were more pronounced in Poales than in other order clades. Herbaceous species that tend to be found in sites with low soil sand content and precipitation have stronger relationships between seed shape and persistence than in sites with higher soil sand content and precipitation. For the woody plants, the relationship between persistence and seed morphology was stronger in sites with high soil sand conte..., (a) Worldwide data compilation
We searched the ISI Web of Science and Google Scholar for papers in English containing the words “seed shape”, “seed bank” and “seed mass or seed size”, in the title or abstract (Figure S1).  Our selection criteria for research sites required that plant data come primarily from English literature and local natural ecosystems, from which single-species studies and agricultural systems were excluded (Table S1, Figure S1). This search yielded data from 23 geographical locations that contained information on both seed shape, mass, and seed bank type. The search yielded integrated seed morphology and seed persistence information for 1772 records of 1474 species from 650 genera and 112 families. Nomenclature to the species, genus, and family levels was revised using http://www.catalogueoflife.org and ‘Taxonstand’ R package.
Seed shape was calculated using the three-dimensional variance equation from Thompson et al. [1] and Bekker et al. [53]:
Seed shape  
where ..., , # Large and non-spherical seeds are less likely to form a persistent soil seed bank

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.jwstqjqhm](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.jwstqjqhm)

## Description of the data and file structure

The attachment contains the original data analysis and plotting R code, and also contains the original data. The code can be run directly as long as the relevant data is used in the run.

#### CSV File Name: wangxj\_seedbank\_species.csv

**Description of file:**

**Variables:**

* species: plant species name
* ID_site: collection site number
* site: collection site
* vegetation: vegetation type (Grassland、Forest、Scrubland、sand scrubland、Alpine grassland and dry grassland )
* division: phylogeny division
* class/order/family/genus: phylogeny class/order/family/genus
* growth_type: plant growth type (Herbaceous and woody species)
* persistence: seed persistence (grouped species into two classes:transient vs persistent; Transient seeds existed in the soil for l...