Persistent soil seed bank in Khybus protected area

The objective of this study was to determine the floristic composition of the persistent soil seed bank and comparison of its seed bank composition with its above- ground vegetations in Khybus protected forest that is one of the best and most virgin Habitats of Box trees in Hyrcanian forest. The study of ground vegetation was carried out with releve method and the soil seed bank was estimated using the seedling emergence method. For this purpose 64 releves with 400 m2 area were made by systematic- selective method and considering indicator stand concept. For sampling of soil seed bank within each releve, two soil samples were randomly collected by hammering a 20 cm × 20 cm square (400 cm2) hollow metal frame into the soil to a depth of 10 cm. 52 species with mean of 3880 seeds per m-2 emerged from soil seed banks. Pteris cretica L., Hypericum androsaemum, Rubus hyrcanus Woron., Carex sylvatica L., Rubus hyrcanus Woron, Athyrium flix- femina (L.) Roth, Atropa belladonna L. and Diospyrus lotus L. with the mean density of 3132, 213, 154, 125.4, 98.5, 34.4 and 17 seeds per m-2 were exhibited as the most abundant taxa respectively. Forbs, with the possession of the 64 percent seed bank flora, were the most numerous growth forms in soil seed bank. The comparison of seed bank and above vegetation revealed that the similarity between soil seed bank and vegetation is low. Finally, we are concluded that persistence soil seed bank of the study area like other areas, is not capable of restoring the ground vegetation of plant communities.