Background:Soil seed banks may offer great potential for maintaining and restoring desert ecosystems that have been degraded by climate change and anthropogenic disturbance.However,few studies have explored the year‑t...Background:Soil seed banks may offer great potential for maintaining and restoring desert ecosystems that have been degraded by climate change and anthropogenic disturbance.However,few studies have explored the year‑to‑year dynamics in the species composition(richness and abundance)of these desert soil seed banks.Thus,we conducted a 4‑year study to assess the effects of environmental factors(meteorology and microtopography)and aboveground vegetation on the soil seed bank of the Tengger Desert,China.Results:We found the seed bank was dominated by annual herb species both in species richness and abundance.More rainfall in the growing season increased the number of seeds in the soil seed bank,and quadrat micro‑elevation had a negative effect on soil seed bank size.The species composition in the seed bank had significantly larger between‑year similarity than that in the aboveground vegetation due to the dominance of annual herb species.For different life forms,the species composition of annual herbs showed distinctly larger temporal similarity between the aboveground vegetation and the seed bank compared with perennial herbs and shrubs.Conclusions:Our findings highlight that the combined effects of environmental factors and plant life forms deter‑mine the species composition(especially the abundance)of soil seed banks in deserts.However,if degraded desert ecosystems are left to regenerate naturally,the lack of shrub and perennial herb seeds could crucially limit their restoration.Human intervention and management may have to be applied to enhance the seed abundance of perennial lifeforms in degraded deserts.展开更多
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.3197529)the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences(XDA23060200)。
文摘Background:Soil seed banks may offer great potential for maintaining and restoring desert ecosystems that have been degraded by climate change and anthropogenic disturbance.However,few studies have explored the year‑to‑year dynamics in the species composition(richness and abundance)of these desert soil seed banks.Thus,we conducted a 4‑year study to assess the effects of environmental factors(meteorology and microtopography)and aboveground vegetation on the soil seed bank of the Tengger Desert,China.Results:We found the seed bank was dominated by annual herb species both in species richness and abundance.More rainfall in the growing season increased the number of seeds in the soil seed bank,and quadrat micro‑elevation had a negative effect on soil seed bank size.The species composition in the seed bank had significantly larger between‑year similarity than that in the aboveground vegetation due to the dominance of annual herb species.For different life forms,the species composition of annual herbs showed distinctly larger temporal similarity between the aboveground vegetation and the seed bank compared with perennial herbs and shrubs.Conclusions:Our findings highlight that the combined effects of environmental factors and plant life forms deter‑mine the species composition(especially the abundance)of soil seed banks in deserts.However,if degraded desert ecosystems are left to regenerate naturally,the lack of shrub and perennial herb seeds could crucially limit their restoration.Human intervention and management may have to be applied to enhance the seed abundance of perennial lifeforms in degraded deserts.
