The role of the soil seed and seedling bank in the regeneration of diverse plant communities in the subtropical Ailao Mountains, Southwest China

We compared species composition and diversity of the soil seed and seedling banks in three secondary vegetation types (shrubland, Populus bonatii forest, Lithocarpus regrowth forest) and a primary old‐growth forest in the subtropical Ailao Mountains of southwestern China to clarify the importance of seed and seedling banks for forest dynamics. The average species richness was the highest in soil samples from the shrubland (26.80 ± 1.98), and the lowest from the primary forest (9.93 ± 0.50). The density of germinable tree seeds increased from the secondary vegetation to the primary forest, and the density of shrub, forb, and graminoid seeds decreased significantly. The most abundant seedlings recorded in soil samples were light‐demanding species in the shrubland and Populus bonatii forest. For ground flora, the number of shrub seedlings strongly decreased with the increase in stand age, and shade‐tolerant tree seedlings tended to increase. The species similarity between the seed bank and the aboveground vegetation in all sites was low (Sørensen's index = 0.11–0.33), however, the shrubland had higher similarity compared with the other three plant communities. In the primary forest, light‐demanding woody species dominated in soil seed banks, while shade‐tolerant species dominated in the overstory and the forest floor. In the primary forest, seedlings of dominant tree species were rare in the understory, and no seeds of the dominant species were found in the soil. Results indicated that the early stages of vegetation recovery should take into account the possibility of recovering soil seed bank processes. However, colonization and establishment of tree seedlings will be difficult once a primary forest is destroyed.