Regeneration of monsoon rain forest in northern Australia: the dormant seed bank
1994
Russell‐Smith, Jeremy | Lucas, Diane E.
As part of a wider study examining regeneration pathways in monsoon rain forest vegetation in northern Australia, the dormant component of the soil seed bank was assessed by storing soil samples for over six dry season months, before watering in shade‐house trials. Six soil samples were collected from each of 34 sites broadly representative of the range of regional monsoon rain forest vegetation. Four floristic seed bank groups were derived through TWINSPAN classification. Mean group densities of germinants ranged from 25–144/m². Dormant seed banks were least dense, and most sparsely distributed, in sandy soils. Seed bank samples were dominated by woody pioneer monsoon rain forest species, especially figs; exotic weeds and savanna taxa (e.g. Poaceae) were relatively more common at seasonally dry sites. Dormant seed banks comprised species mostly present in the standing vegetation, although a small number of germinants represented species not growing at half the sites. Regeneration of woody pioneers from dormant seed banks is least likely to be of importance on infertile, seasonally dry sites.
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