Disturbance is one of most important selective factor causing removal of plant biomass. Man-made habitats are characterized by strong and unpredictable disturbances, providing bare soil surface colonized by plants with short life cycle. Populations of the short-lived plants are, however, vulnerable to the strong disturbance removing all stem parts with reserve axillary meristems in the case it occurs before plant flowering and fruiting. Nevertheless, 2 % of annual and 14 % of biennial plants are able to overcome meristem limitation by adventititous sprouting from hypocotyle or/and roots. This thesis is composed of four original studies describing the occurrence of adventitious sprouting in natural populations of 22 monocarpic weeds of Central Europe and one species in Indonesia. The studied phenomenon was analyzed in relation to various environmental factors and plant traits in the field and in experimental conditions.