Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-g7gxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-11T05:41:03.817Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Viable seeds buried in the tropical forest soils of Xishuangbanna, SW China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 February 2007

Min Cao ,
Yong Tang ,
Caiyu Sheng  and
Jianhou Zhang
Min Cao*
Affiliation:
Department of Forest Ecology, XTBG, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xuefu Road 50, Kunming 650223, Peoples Republic of China
Yong Tang
Affiliation:
Department of Forest Ecology, XTBG, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xuefu Road 50, Kunming 650223, Peoples Republic of China
Caiyu Sheng
Affiliation:
Department of Forest Ecology, XTBG, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xuefu Road 50, Kunming 650223, Peoples Republic of China
Jianhou Zhang
Affiliation:
Department of Forest Ecology, XTBG, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xuefu Road 50, Kunming 650223, Peoples Republic of China
*
*Correspondence Fax: +86 871 5160916 Email: caom@public.km.yn.cn
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper examines the composition and density of soil seed banks under a mature seasonal rain forest (>150 years old), three secondary forests (4 yr Trema orientalis forest, 9 yr Macaranga denticulata forest and 25 yr Mallotus paniculatus forest) and in a slash-and-burn field of Xishuangbanna, southwest China. Seeds in the secondary forests germinated most rapidly in the first week, while the seeds of the seasonal rain forest and the slash-and-burn field soils germinated slowly over the first 6 weeks and peaked in the seventh and eighth weeks. Seed densities were 4585–65,665 seeds m−2 for forest sites and 1130 seeds m−2 for the slash-and-burn field in the top 10 cm of the soils. The seed density decreased with soil depth in the forest sites and tended to decline during succession. Herbs accounted for the largest proportion of seeds at all five sites. The importance of woody species, however, increased as forests became older. Slash and burn eliminated a large number of seeds in the upper soil and, consequently, reversed the vertical distribution of seeds in the soil and had a negative impact on family, genus and species richness of the soil seed bank as well.

Keywords

forest regenerationlife formsecondary successionslash-and-burn agriculturesoil seed banktropical forest
Type
Research Article
Information
Seed Science Research , Volume 10 , Issue 3 , September 2000 , pp. 255 - 264
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2000

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Baskin, C.C. and Baskin, J.M. (1998) Seeds: ecology, biogeography, and evolution of dormancy and germination. San Diego, Academic Press.Google Scholar
Brinkmann, W.L.F. and Vieira, A.N. (1971) The effect of burning on germination of seeds at different soil depths of various tropical tree species. Turrialba 21, 77–82.Google Scholar
Brokaw, N.V.L. (1985) Treefalls, regrowth, and community structure in tropical forests. pp. 53–69in Pickett, S.T.A.; White, P.S. (Eds) The ecology of natural disturbance and patch dynamics. Orlando, Academic Press.Google Scholar
Cao, M. and Zhang, J. (1996) An ecological perspective on shifting cultivation in Xishuangbanna, SW China. Wallaceana 78, 21–27.Google Scholar
Cao, M. and Zhang, J. (1997) Tree species diversity of tropical forest vegetation in Xishuangbanna, SW China. Biodiversity and Conservation 6, 995–1006.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cao, M., Zhang, J., Feng, Z., Deng, J. and Deng, X. (1996) Tree species composition of a seasonal rain forest in Xishuangbanna, southwest China. Tropical Ecology 37, 183–192.Google Scholar
Cao, M., Zheng, Z. and Zhang, J. (1998) Long-term ecological research in a tropical seasonal rain forest of Xishuangbanna, southwest China. pp. 71–78 in Iwakuma, T. (Ed.) Long-term ecological research in the east Asia-Pacific region: biodiversity and conservation of terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems. Tsukuba, Japan, National Institute of Environmental Studies.Google Scholar
Chang, N.-H. (1996) Effects of light on seed germination of three pioneer tree species (Alnus formosana, Trema orientalis, Broussonettia papyrifera). Taiwan Journal of Forestry Science 11, 195–199. (In Chinese.)Google Scholar
Cheke, A.S., Nanakorn, W. and Yankoses, C. (1979) Dormancy and dispersal of seeds of secondary forest species under the canopy of a primary tropical rain forest in northern Thailand. Biotropica 11, 88–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dalling, J.W. and Denslow, J.S. (1998) Soil seed bank composition along a forest chronosequence in seasonally moist tropical forest, Panama. Journal of Vegetation Science 9, 669–678.Google Scholar
Enright, N. (1985) Existence of a soil seed bank under rainforest in New Guinea. Australian Journal of Ecology 10, 67–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Epp, G.A. (1987) The seed bank of Eupatorium odoratum along a successional gradient in a tropical rain forest in Ghana. Journal of Tropical Ecology 3, 139–149.Google Scholar
FAO-UNESCO (1990) Soil map of the world, revised legend. Rome, FAO.Google Scholar
Garwood, N.C. (1989) Tropical soil seed banks: a review. pp. 149–209 in Leck, M.A.; Parker, V.T.; Simpson, R.L. (Eds) Ecology of soil seed banks. San Diego, Academic Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Graham, A.W. and Hopkins, M.S. (1990) Soil seed banks of adjacent unlogged rainforest types in North Queensland. Australian Journal of Botany 38, 261–268.Google Scholar
Harper, J.L. (1977) Population biology of plants. New York, Academic Press.Google Scholar
Hoffmann, W.A. (1998) Post-burn reproduction of woody plants in a neotropical savanna: the relative importance of sexual and vegetative reproduction. Journal of Applied Ecology 35, 422–433.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hopkins, M.S. and Graham, A.W. (1983) The species composition of soil seed banks beneath lowland tropical rainforests in North Queensland, Australia. Biotropica 15, 90–99.Google Scholar
Hopkins, M.S. and Graham, A.W. (1984) Viable soil seed banks in disturbed lowland tropical rainforest sites in North Queensland. Australian Journal of Ecology 9, 71–79.Google Scholar
Kheong, Y.S., Tuck, C.H., Kimura, K., Kanzaki, M., Okauchi, Y. and Yamakura, T. (1996) Seed dispersal and buried seed dynamics. pp. 161–172 in Collected abstracts for the papers of program “Study on tropical forest ecosystems”. Tsukuba, Japan, CGER, National Institute for Environmental Studies.Google Scholar
Liew, T.H. (1973) Occurrence of seeds in virgin forest top soil with particular reference to secondary species in Sabah. Malaysian Forester 36, 185–193.Google Scholar
Metcalfe, D.J. and Turner, I.M. (1998) Soil seed bank from lowland rain forest in Singapore: canopy-gap and littergap demanders. Journal of Tropical Ecology 14, 103–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, P.M. (1999) Effects of deforestation on seed banks in a tropical deciduous forest of western Mexico. Journal of Tropical Ecology 15, 179–188.Google Scholar
Mucunguzi, P. and Oryem-Origa, H. (1996) Effects of heat and fire on the germination of Acacia sieberiana D.C. and Acacia gerrardii Benth. in Uganda. Journal of Tropical Ecology 12, 1–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parker, V.T., Simpson, R.L. and Leck, M.A. (1989) Pattern and process in the dynamics of seed banks. pp. 367–384in Leck, M.A.; Parker, V.T.; Simpson, R.L. (Eds) Ecology of soil seed banks. San Diego, Academic Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pons, T.L. (1992) Seed responses to light. pp. 259–284in Fenner, M. (Ed.) Seeds: the ecology of regeneration in plant communities. Wallingford, UK, CAB International.Google Scholar
Putz, F.E. and Appanah, S. (1987) Buried seeds, newly dispersed seeds, and the dynamics of a lowland forest in Malaysia. Biotropica 19, 326–333.Google Scholar
Rico-Gray, V. and Garcia-Franco, J.G. (1992) Vegetation and soil seed bank of successional stages in tropical lowland deciduous forest. Journal of Vegetation Science 3, 617–624.Google Scholar
Roberts, H.A. (1981) Seed banks in soils. pp. 1–55in Coaker, T.H. (Ed.) Advances in applied biology 6. London, Academic Press.Google Scholar
Saulei, S.M. and Swaine, M.D. (1988) Rain forest seed dynamics during succession at Gogol, Papua New Guinea. Journal of Ecology 76, 1133–1152.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Skoglund, J. (1992) The role of seed banks in vegetation dynamics and restoration of dry tropical ecosystems. Journal of Vegetation Science 3, 357–360.Google Scholar
Symington, C.F. (1933) The study of secondary growth on rain forest sites in Malaya. Malayan Forester 2, 107–117.Google Scholar
Thompson, K. (1992) The functional ecology of seed banks. pp. 231–258in Fenner, M. (Ed.) Seeds: the ecology of regeneration in plant communities. Wallingford, UK, CAB International.Google Scholar
Thompson, K. and Grime, J.P. (1979) Seasonal variation in the seed banks of herbaceous species in ten contrasting habitats. Journal of Ecology 67, 893–921.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Uhl, C. and Clark, K. (1983) Seed ecology of selected Amazon Basin successional species. Botanical Gazette 144, 419–425.Google Scholar
Uhl, C., Clark, K., Clark, H. and Murphy, P. (1981) Early plant succession after cutting and burning in the upper Rio Negro region of the Amazon basin. Journal of Ecology 69, 631–649.Google Scholar
Underwood, A.J. (1997) Experiments in ecology: their logical design and interpretation using analysis of variance. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Vazquez-Yanes, C. and Segovia, A.O. (1984) Ecophysiology of seed germination in the tropical humid forests of the world: a review. pp. 37–50in Medina, E.; Mooney, H.A.; Vazquez-Yanes, C. (Eds) Physiological ecology of plants of the wet tropics. The Hague, Dr W.Junk Publishers.Google Scholar
Whitmore, T.C. (1975) Tropical rain forests of the Far East. Oxford, Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Whitmore, T.C. (1983) Secondary succession from seed in tropical rain forests. Forestry Abstracts 44, 767–779.Google Scholar
Whitmore, T.C. (1989a) Canopy gaps and the two major groups of forest trees. Ecology 70, 536–538.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whitmore, T.C. (1989b) Changes over twenty-one years in the Kolombangara rain forests. Journal of Ecology 77, 469–483.Google Scholar
Whitmore, T.C. (1989c) Forty years of rain forest ecology 1948–1988 in perspective. GeoJournal 19, 347–360.Google Scholar
Whitmore, T.C. (1990) An introduction to tropical rain forests. Oxford, Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Wu, Z., Zhu, Y. and Jiang, H. (1987) The vegetation of Yunnan. Beijing, Science Press. (In Chinese.)Google Scholar
Young, K.R., Ewel, J.J. and Brown, B.J. (1987) Seed dynamics during forest succession in Costa Rica. Vegetatio 71, 157–173.Google Scholar
Zhang, J. and Cao, M. (1995) Tropical forest vegetation of Xishuangbanna, SW China and its secondary changes, with special reference to some problems in local nature conservation. Biological Conservation 73, 229–238.Google Scholar
Zhu, H. (1997) Ecological and biogeographical studies on the tropical rain forest of south Yunnan, SW China with a special reference to its relation with rain forests of tropical Asia. Journal of Biogeography 24, 647–662.Google Scholar