Soil seed bank characteristics beneath an age sequence of caragana microphylla shrubs in the horqin sandy land region of northeastern china
To understand how shrub cover affects the spatiotemporal patterns of the soil seed bank and to assess the role of vegetation in the restoration of desertified land in a semi‐arid region of China, we investigated the species composition and seed density of the soil seed bank under and outside the canopies over two seasons for an age sequence of Caragana microphylla shrubs in the Horqin Sandy Land region, Inner Mongolia. The results showed that a total of 24 plant species seeds were present in the soil seed bank, of which 20 were annuals or biennials.