Soil Seed Bank Density Enhanced at Shrub Patches Due to Grazing in a Shrub-Encroached Grassland

文献类型： 外文期刊

第一作者： Liu, Jiahui

作者： Liu, Jiahui;Li, Le;Zhang, Jingmin;Zhu, Na;Wang, Chu;Luo, Yuhong;Xu, Nuo;Bao, Yufan;Yan, Yuchun;Chen, Jiquan

作者机构：

关键词： Soil seed bank; Shrubs; Grazing; Seed density; Annual plants; Ecosystem restoration

期刊名称：ECOSYSTEMS （ 影响因子：3.3； 五年影响因子：3.9 ）

ISSN： 1432-9840

年卷期： 2024 年 27 卷 8 期

页码：

收录情况： SCI

摘要： Soil seed banks play an important role in the restoration of degraded lands following disturbances. In grasslands, however, little is known about the effects of shrub patches on the soil seed bank, especially under grazing practices. We explored the impacts of shrub patches on vegetation, soil properties, and soil seed banks at three sites in a semiarid grassland encroached by Caragana microphylla under grazed and ungrazed treatments. The results demonstrated that shrub patches significantly improved aboveground vegetation and soil properties. The germinable seed bank in the soil was mostly composed of annual plants. Under grazing treatments, shrub patches showed significantly higher germinable seed density, particularly for annual plants, whereas there was no significant difference between shrub patches and interspaces under ungrazed conditions when all three sites were considered together. This suggests that the effect of shrub patches on seed bank density is regulated by grazing. In addition to direct promotion of seed bank density, shrub patches also had indirect positive or negative effects on soil seed bank density through altering percentage of annuals biomass and soil organic carbon (SOC), respectively. Grazing treatment indirectly increased soil seed bank density by decreasing SOC. Clearly, the increased seed density of annual plants under shrub patches is associated with grazing in semiarid shrub-encroached grasslands. Shrubs play an essential role in vegetation regeneration and restoration of grazing-induced degraded grassland ecosystems by maintaining a high soil seed bank density.

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