A study of soil seed banks across one complete chronosequence of secondary succession in a karst landscape.

ABSTRACT: Anthropogenic disturbance and distinctive geochemistry have resulted in rocky desertification in many karst regions of the world. Seed banks are crucial to vegetation regeneration in degraded karst ecosystems characterized by a discontinuous distribution of soil and seasonal drought stress. However, the dynamics of seed banks across one complete series of secondary succession and the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. We selected eight typical stages during secondary succession, conducted aboveground vegetation survey and collected 960 soil samples in the Guiyang karst landscape of China. Seed density, species richness and plant life forms in seed banks were determined via the germination method. The results indicated that the seed density in seed banks before and after field seed germi

SUBMITTER: He X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7580579 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature