Soil seed bank under different diversity restoration measure in the grassland of Bashang region

Field surveys and laboratory experiments were conducted to study the characteristics of soil seed banks such as species composition, density and diversity in Bashang grasslands. Results show that soil seed bank richness under shallow plough treatment (18) is greater than that under nature restoration (15) and that under nature restoration is in turn greater than that under deep plough treatment (14). Soil seed bank density under nature restoration, shallow and deep plough treatments, is respectively 23 949, 15 746 and 10 600 seed·m^-2. Soil seed bank density under shallow and deep plough treatments respectively decreases by 34.3% and 55.7% than under nature restoration. Regression analysis indicates that the relationship between density of soil seed bank and that of associated vegetation has a cubic-shaped curve. There is high similarity of soil seed bank among diversity restoration measures. However, the similarity decreases with increasing artificial disturbance.