Evaluation of soil seed bank (SSB) in relation to biotic environmental factors could be important in degraded areas, since SSB is one of the major sources that facilitates the recovery of degraded plant communities after disturbances such as grazing, flooding and drought. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of Astragalus myriacanthus and Acantholimon spinosum on SSB characteristics. Soil sampling was carried out in four different positions (upslope edge, downslope edge, center and outside) of each cushion in semiarid mountainous regions in Iran. Then, SSB composition and density, species diversity and richness of SSB in each position were estimated using the germination method. The results of the nonmetric multidimensional scaling showed that the separation of species composition of SSB in four different positions was not possible in any of the cushion species. Nevertheless, the results indicated that the lowest of SSB density, species diversity and richness were observed in the outside of the two cushions. In both cushions, A. myriacanthus and A. spinosum, the mean SSB density (1,606.4 and 646.5 seeds/m², respectively) was significantly higher in the upslope edge. Totally, the mean density of SSBs in A. myriacanthus (903.6 seeds/m²) was significantly higher than that of A. spinosum (360.6 seeds/m²). We concluded that the cushion plants can act as seed traps and therefore could facilitate recovery of degraded sites in the steep‐hilly areas, while, the possibility of seed penetration into the soil of different directions of cushion might be significant.

中文翻译：

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半干旱地区半干旱地区垫层植物对土壤种子库的影响

与生物环境因素相关的土壤种子库（SSB）评估在退化地区可能很重要，因为SSB是在遭受放牧，洪水和干旱等干扰后促进退化植物群落恢复的主要来源之一。这项研究的目的是调查黄芪和棘突棘的作用关于SSB特性。在伊朗半干旱山区的每个气垫的四个不同位置（上坡边缘，下坡边缘，中心和外部）进行了土壤采样。然后，使用发芽方法估算每个位置的SSB组成和密度，物种多样性和丰富度。非度量多维标度的结果表明，在任何垫层物种中，SSB的物种组成在四个不同位置的分离都是不可能的。然而，结果表明，在两个垫层的外部观察到了最低的SSB密度，物种多样性和丰富度。在两个靠垫中，A。myriacanthus和一个。刺糖，上坡边缘的平均SSB密度（分别为1,606.4和646.5个种子/ m ²）显着更高。总而言之，A中SSB的平均密度。myriacanthus（903.6种子/米²）比的显著更高甲。spinosum（360.6种子/ m ²）。我们得出的结论是，坐垫植物可以充当种子陷阱，因此可以促进陡峭丘陵地区退化地点的恢复，而种子在不同坐垫方向渗透到土壤中的可能性可能很大。