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Relationships between soil seed bank composition and standing vegetation along chronosequences in a tropical dry forest in north-eastern Brazil

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 June 2019

Fernanda Melo Gomes Open the ORCID record for Fernanda Melo Gomes [Opens in a new window] ,
Clemir Candeia de Oliveira ,
Roberta da Rocha Miranda ,
Rafael Carvalho da Costa Open the ORCID record for Rafael Carvalho da Costa [Opens in a new window]  and
Maria Iracema Bezerra Loiola Open the ORCID record for Maria Iracema Bezerra Loiola [Opens in a new window]
Fernanda Melo Gomes*
Affiliation:
Post-graduation Program in Ecology and Natural Resources, Federal University of Ceará, Campus Pici, 60440-900, Department of Biology, Fortaleza, CE, Brazil
Clemir Candeia de Oliveira
Affiliation:
Post-graduation Program in Ecology and Natural Resources, Federal University of Ceará, Campus Pici, 60440-900, Department of Biology, Fortaleza, CE, Brazil
Roberta da Rocha Miranda
Affiliation:
Post-graduation Program in Ecology and Natural Resources, Federal University of Ceará, Campus Pici, 60440-900, Department of Biology, Fortaleza, CE, Brazil
Rafael Carvalho da Costa
Affiliation:
Federal University of Ceará, Campus do Pici Prisco Bezerra, Center of Sciences, Department of Biology, Av. Humberto Monte s/n, 60440-900, Fortaleza, CE, Brazil
Maria Iracema Bezerra Loiola
Affiliation:
Federal University of Ceará, Campus do Pici Prisco Bezerra, Center of Sciences, Department of Biology, Av. Humberto Monte s/n, 60440-900, Fortaleza, CE, Brazil
*
*Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

To better understand the role of seed banks in ecological succession of dry forests, we compared similarities between vegetation and seed banks and assessed the relative contributions of seed dispersal and persistence in chronosequences in the Brazilian semi-arid region. To sample the standing vegetation and the seed bank, we collected data in three sites with three successional ages in each one (5 y, 25 y and 45 y). A total of 180 soil samples (three sites × three successional ages × 10 plots × two components) were collected. The composition of the seed bank was assessed by the seedling emergence method. Of 166 species identified in the standing vegetation, only 50 (30.1%) were also present in the seed bank, resulting in low similarity (Jaccard index = 0.02–0.21) and reflecting the rarity of woody species and the dominance of annuals (71% of richness). The relative importance of seed persistence and seed dispersal to seed banks composition were balanced in most cases (difference was not rejected in four out six comparisons). Those results suggest that seed banks in tropical dry forests are largely the result of high dispersal rates and the persistence of allochthonous annual species that contribute to decoupling seed bank and vegetation composition.

Keywords

Annual speciesdispersalnull modelsecondary successionseed persistenceseedling emergencesemi-aridsimilarity
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 35 , Issue 4 , July 2019 , pp. 173 - 184
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2019 

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