TY - JOUR
T1 - Spatial variation of soil seed banks along a gradient of anthropogenic disturbances in tropical forests on coral islands
AU - Huang, Yao
AU - Cai, Hongyue
AU - Jian, Shuguang
AU - Wang, Jun
AU - Kollmann, Johannes
AU - Hui, Dafeng
AU - Zhang, Lei
AU - Lu, Hongfang
AU - Ren, Hai
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2023/10/15
Y1 - 2023/10/15
N2 - Poor regeneration of natural vegetation is a major factor contributing to the degradation of tropical coral islands. Soil seed banks (SSB) are important for maintaining the resilience of plant communities. However, the community characteristics and spatial distribution of SSBs and the controlling factors along human disturbance on coral islands are unclear. To fill this gap, we measured the community structure and spatial distributions of forest SSBs on three coral islands in the South China Sea, with varying degrees of human disturbance. The results showed that strong human disturbance increased the diversity, richness, and density of SSBs, as well as increased the richness of invasive species. With increased human disturbance, the heterogeneity pattern of SSBs spatial distribution changed from difference between forest east and west to forest center and edge. The similarity between the SSBs and above-ground vegetation also increased, and the distribution of invasive species extended from the edge to the central area of the forests, demonstrating that human disturbance limited the outward dispersal of seeds of resident species but increased the inward dispersal of seeds of invasive species. Interaction between soil properties, plant characteristics, and human disturbance explained 23–45% of the spatial variation of forest SSBs on the coral islands. However, human disturbance reduced the correlations of plant communities and spatial distribution of SSBs with soil factors (i.e., available phosphorus and total nitrogen) and increased the correlations of the community characteristics of SSB with landscape heterogeneity index, road distance, and shrub and litter cover. Resident seed dispersal on tropical coral islands might be enhanced by reducing building height, constructing buildings in down-wind locations, and preserving corridors that support animal movement among forest fragments.
AB - Poor regeneration of natural vegetation is a major factor contributing to the degradation of tropical coral islands. Soil seed banks (SSB) are important for maintaining the resilience of plant communities. However, the community characteristics and spatial distribution of SSBs and the controlling factors along human disturbance on coral islands are unclear. To fill this gap, we measured the community structure and spatial distributions of forest SSBs on three coral islands in the South China Sea, with varying degrees of human disturbance. The results showed that strong human disturbance increased the diversity, richness, and density of SSBs, as well as increased the richness of invasive species. With increased human disturbance, the heterogeneity pattern of SSBs spatial distribution changed from difference between forest east and west to forest center and edge. The similarity between the SSBs and above-ground vegetation also increased, and the distribution of invasive species extended from the edge to the central area of the forests, demonstrating that human disturbance limited the outward dispersal of seeds of resident species but increased the inward dispersal of seeds of invasive species. Interaction between soil properties, plant characteristics, and human disturbance explained 23–45% of the spatial variation of forest SSBs on the coral islands. However, human disturbance reduced the correlations of plant communities and spatial distribution of SSBs with soil factors (i.e., available phosphorus and total nitrogen) and increased the correlations of the community characteristics of SSB with landscape heterogeneity index, road distance, and shrub and litter cover. Resident seed dispersal on tropical coral islands might be enhanced by reducing building height, constructing buildings in down-wind locations, and preserving corridors that support animal movement among forest fragments.
KW - Forest connectivity
KW - Human disturbances
KW - Seed dispersal
KW - Soil seed bank
KW - Spatial distribution
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85162759882&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.118512
DO - 10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.118512
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85162759882
SN - 0301-4797
VL - 344
JO - Journal of Environmental Management
JF - Journal of Environmental Management
M1 - 118512
ER -