Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
1 Assistant Professor, Research Center for Agriculture & Natural Resources of Hormozgan Province, Hormozgan, Iran
2 Professor, Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands, Tehran, Iran
3 Professor, Faculty of Natural Resources, Tehran University, Karaj, Iran
4 Associate Professor, Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands, Tehran, Iran
Abstract
Genu protected area is located in the north–west of Bandar Abbas and its summit is 2347 meters above sea level. In this study, soil seed bank was investigated in vegetation communities. Soil seed bank plays a role in the revival of vegetation after degradation. In protected areas, understanding of the type of soil seed bank in terms of the production capacity of persistent and non-persistent seed bank is valuable to preserve the species especially endemic and rare species. In this study, sampling of the soil seed bank was conducted before precipitation. Sampling points were selected from 50 points in both depths of 0-5 and 5-10 cm of the soil surface to determine soil seed reserves. A total of 135 samples were selected for the study of plant sociology. Trays containing the samples were placed in a greenhouse and were irrigated regularly. In this research, the potential of soil seed reserves was investigated in terms of seed persistence in soil, and according to the results, significant differences were found in terms of seed density per meter square at different depths of soil and the life form of species in different communities. Among life forms, therophytes were more abundant in the soil seed bank while tree and shrub species were scarce. Species with persistent soil seed bank was mainly annuals. From 810 samples of soil seed bank, cultivated in the greenhouse, 3934 seeds were germinated of which 2933 and 1001 seeds were related to the depths of 0-5 and 5-10 cm of soil surface, respectively. In total, the number of seeds was related to 163 species of which 44 species had persistent seed bank. Species in the sampling units of soil seed bank with at least two seeds in the depth of 5-10 cm of the soil surface were considered as species with persistent seed bank. Other species in the region which had non-persistent seed bank were more vulnerable to degradation. In other words, if the vegetation is destroyed, they will not be able to revive.
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