To evaluate the potential of the soil seed bank to revegetate the drawdown zone of this region, LU Zhijun and his colleagues at the Key Laboratory of Aquatic Botany and Watershed Ecology, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (ZHANG Quanfa, Laboratory Director) examined the quantitative relationships between the germinable soil seed bank and the established vertical and horizontal vegetation patterns. A total of 45 soil samples at four sites were collected to examine seed bank density, species richness and composition using the seedling-emergence method. Forty-five species (from 20 families) germinated from the soil seed bank and the average seed density was 4578 ind/m². The seed bank was dominated by annual plants, suggesting reestablishment of some above-ground species was plausible. However, most established woody plants and perennials were absent from the seed bank indicating a low probability of reestablishment for non-annuals through the seed bank. Thus, due to low species composition similarity to extant vegetation and the dominance of annual plants, the soil seed bank had a low potential to restore pre-dam vegetation in the drawdown zone of the Three Gorges Reservoir Region, but its potential as a propagule source should be considered regarding the management of the drawdown zone for vegetation cover.

This work entitled “Can the soil seed bank contribute to revegetation of the drawdown zone in the Three Gorges Reservoir Region?” was published in Plant Ecology on February 19, 2010.

This research was financially supported by China Key Technology Research & Development Program (Grant No. 2006BAC10B01), the Chinese Academy of Sciences Action Plan for the Development of Western China (Grant No. KZCX2-XB2-07), the Knowledge Innovation Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. 54O754501J0447), the Project Sponsored by the Scientific Research Foundation for the Returned Overseas Chinese Scholars, the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China (Grant No. 1ZO91Z191J0219).