Presence and absence of persistent soil seed banks or seedling banks are one of the features, among others, which imply the restoration potential of a forest or plant community. As a result, soil seed bank research is always of great interest. Can any body recommend me the volume of the soil sufficient (consider larger number small-sized samples vs small number of large-sized samples) for soil seed bank to decide the restoration potential of an area? I am asking this question because I believe the smaller the sample could influence our judgement.
For the dominant forest in temperate Europe (beech) restoration through a seed bank is unknown (to me) for the dominant tree (attached) and the forest floor vegetation. Restoration of oak forest seems possible from my unpublished observations. A large number of samples will be needed, es the surviving acorn are rare.
Eurasian heath (dwarf shrub) are known to re-establish from a seed bank. Few samples, but deep ones would be needed.
Relic trees are probably a better bet as restoration kernel (both attachments).
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It is not ony volume to look at but surface area - most seeds are in the top 5cm so looking deeper increases your volume more than your seeds. While African forests are understudied compared with other tropical regions, here's a link to a paper from Uganda, and a review paper but the review is global and so has many european grasslands. In Ehtiopian forest, seed density per unit area ranges from 66 to 4220 seeds per m2. I know of four publications from Ethiopia:
Lemenih, M. and Teketay, D. 2005. Effect of prior land use on the recolonization of native woody species under plantation forests in the highlands of Ethiopia. - Forest Ecology and Management 218: 60-73.
Senbeta, F., Teketay, D. and Näslund, B.-Å. 2002. Native woody species regeneration in exotic tree plantations at Munessa-Shashemene Forest, southern Ethiopia. - New Forests 24: 131-145.
Tekle, K. and Bekele, T. 2000. The Role of Soil Seed Banks in the Rehabilitation of Degraded Hillslopes in Southern Wello, Ethiopia. - Biotropica 32: 23-32.
Tesfaye, G., Teketay, D., Assefa, Y. and Fetene, M. 2004. The impact of fire on the soil seed bank and regeneration of Harenna Forest, Southeastern Ethiopia. - Mountain Research and Development 24: 354-361.
Message me if you would like a private copy of any of these in pdf.
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