Abstract
Soil seed bank (SSB) represents potential plant communities, which is essential in the restoration of degraded ecosystems. Consequently, SSB is crucial in the reconstruction and recovery of aboveground plants because they largely determine the process and direction of vegetation restoration. SSB is also important indicators that can be used to evaluate the effects of management on degraded desert steppe. Here, field sampling and soil seed germination experiments were used to investigate the role of SSB in the recovery of degraded desert steppe. Results indicated that (1) the species composition of SSB and ground vegetation significantly differed in different aged Caragana microphylla plantation and control in the Yanchi County. (2) The abundance of SSB was significantly promoted by C. microphylla plantation. The average seed density in Caragana plantation SSB was 11248.75 m−2, which was 17 times than that of SSB in areas without C. microphylla plantation. (3) The ages of C. microphylla plantation were closely related to the composition and density of SSB.
Highlights
The soil seed bank (SSB) comprises seeds that have survived at the soil surface and in the soil [1]
A total of 35 species were identified in the aboveground vegetation, whereas 18 species were identified in the SSB and in the aboveground vegetation that included Euphorbia humifusa, Setaria viridis, Tribulus terrestris, Sophora alopecuroides, Cynanchum komarouii, Corispermum mongolicum, Gueldenstaedtia stenophylla, Lespedeza potaninii, Euphorbia esula, Agriophyllum squarrosum, Stipa glareosa, var. graminifolia, Cuscuta chinensis, Bassia dasyphylla, Eragrostis poaeoides, Polygala tenuifolia, Artemisia scopariaand Salsola beticolor
Our findings suggested that (1) the species composition of the SSB and the aboveground vegetation communities differed among C. microphylla plantation with different ages in Yanchi County
Summary
The soil seed bank (SSB) comprises seeds that have survived at the soil surface and in the soil [1]. The SSB represents potential plant communities and is essential for rehabilitating degraded ecosystems via revegetation and restoration. The SSB determines the progress and direction of the future vegetative composition of communities [2–4]. Understanding species composition, density, and diversity of SSB can provide a basis for understanding mechanisms of vegetation succession, and is a important indicator for evaluating the effects from treating degraded desert steppe ecosystems [5]. The research on seed banks in a degraded desert shrubland showed there were consistently positive relationships between ground cover of litter and viable seed density [7]. The re-establishment of post-disturbance native plant community was almost exclusively conducted using seeds [8].
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