Assessment of soil seed bank on three different vegetation types in Kumaun Central Himalayan forest
2021
Mittal, Amit | Tewari, Ashish | Singh, Nandan | Shah, Shruti
The present study was conducted to assess the soil seed bank in Shorea robusta, Pinus roxburghii and Quercus leucotrichophora dominant forest. The study was carried out between 439 and 2145 m in Kumaun Himalayan region. A monolith of 25x25x15 cm³ was used to extract the soil sample from the study sites. The soil samples were divided into 03 depth classes 0-5cm, 5–10 cm and 10–15 cm. ANOVA showed that number of viable seeds varied significantly across sites and depths (p<0.05) but not with species. The soil seed bank density at 05 cm depths was 3.2±0.05 and 10.1±0.08 m⁻² in S. robusta, 4.5±0.08 and 12.4±1.07 m⁻² on P. roxburghii and 2.3±0.06 and 5.4±0.3 m⁻² on Q. leucotrichophora. In oak dominated forest the total tree forest emergent varied from 3.2±1.89 to 18.4±2.01 m⁻², shrubs forest emergent varied from 8.3±1.21 to 64.4±2.97 m⁻² and herb emergent varied from 20.3±0.6 to 164.3±0.62m⁻². A significant positive co-relation was found between tree and shrubs emergent (r=0.228, p<0.01) and shrubs and herbs forest emergents (r=0.573, p<0.01). Litter abundance increases in areas of high pine density, which may decrease seed banks. The highest emergent in Q. leucotrichophora dominant sites could be due to the high moisture present in oak forest soil and favorable climatic conditions as compare to S. robusta and P. roxburghii dominated forests. Rise in temperature and resultant enhanced evapo-transpiration which desiccates seeds more rapidly in soil.
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