Morphoanatomical Analysis and Diversity of Andean Urban Wetland seed Banks: A tool for Ecological Rehabilitation

Seeds have morphoanatomical characteristics that determine the survival of plants in different environments, and these are directly related to phenomena such as dormancy. Natural selection filters the plant communities that inhabit the different ecosystems of planet earth and their seed banks. This has direct implications for ecological restoration. However, the seeds of aquatic plants have historically received much less attention than those of terrestrial ecosystems; and there is no history of morphoanatomical studies of seeds of aquatic vegetation for the Andes. In this research we studied the morphoanatomy of representative species of seed banks (SB), and floristic compositions of four Andean wetlands in a region with very high anthropic pressure such as the highland of eastern Antioquia. Results suggested that species with the highest abundances in the SB had seeds with morphophysiological dormancy and some had developed seeds with combined dormancy. The SB were dominated by mostly native aquatic plant species and emergent life forms that play an important role in the natural regeneration of these ecosystems. This study, in addition to being a pioneer in the investigation of the seeds of aquatic plants of the Andes, constitutes a guide for future studies for the design of ecological rehabilitation in wetlands that are under strong anthropic pressure.