Wetland Seed Banks In The Middle To Lower Reaches Of The Changjiang River

Soil seed banks are key determinants of wetland community composition, and recruitment from the seed bank in response to environmental heterogeneity may influence species diversity and the spatial pattern of standing vegetation. In today's increasingly fragments, knowledge of seed banks in the soils of natural communities should provide useful tools for conservation and restoration efforts.We examined species composition and spatial pattern of seed banks in 6 sites of two habitats (3 marshes and 3 lakeshores) across hydrologically connected freshwater wetlands in the middle to lower reaches of the Changjiang River, and compared the relationships between seed bank and its standing vegetation.Seedling density and the species number germinating from the seed banks in six studied sites were similar to that of freshwater marshes in Northern America and elsewhere. By combining the data of sites from same habitats, 56 and 59 species were detected in surface 5 cm soil in marsh and lakeshore, respectively. Species rarefaction curves indicated higher species richness in marsh (56) than in lakeshore (48) at 4225 individuals. However, The Chao 2 nonparametric estimator of species richness revealed that lakeshore had higher estimated total species richness (81) than marsh (60). The factors influencing species richness and distribution were discussed.More species and higher Shannon diversity index were detected in the seed bank than...