Potential role of persistent soil seed bank in vegetation restoration of degraded desert grasslands

In order to explore the potential role of persistent soil seed bank in the vegetation restoration and reconstruction,the characteristics of persistent soil seed bank,and its relationship with vegetation and geographic location were studied in 11 plots of the degraded desert grasslands.The result showed that soil seed bank was dominated by herbaceous plants.Soil seed bank density ranged from 31.5 to 482.3 seed·m-2 in desert grasslands.Vegetation types and soil layer both had a significant effect on the density of persistent soil seed bank.Persistent seed bank density was negatively correlated with latitude,and had no significant correlation with longitude.Longitude and latitude had no significantly effect on the species richness and diversity of the persistent soil seed bank,and the similarity between the persistent soil seed bank and vegetation.Altitude had no significantly effect on the density of the persistent seed bank,but did affect the species richness and diversity of the persistent soil seed bank,and the similarity between the persistent soil seed bank and vegetation.With the increase of the altitude,the species richness and diversity of the persistent seed bank,and its similarity with vegetation decreased.Persistent soil seed bank and its similarity with vegetation were very low.It was unlikely that the potential of shrub layers restoration depending on soil seed bank.