New Zealand Journal of Botany abstract

The soil seed bank in Agathis australis (D. Don) Lindl. (kauri) forests of northern New Zealand

G. SEM

Department of Geography
University of Auckland
Private Bag, Auckland
New Zealand
Present address: Department of Geography
University of Papua New Guinea
P. O. Box 320
National Capital District, Papua New Guinea.

N. J. ENRIGHT

Department of Geography and Environmental Science
University of Melbourne
Parkville, VIC. 3052
Australia.

Abstract  The characteristics of soil seed banks in Agathis australis (kauri) forests of northern New Zealand are presented, and variations in seed bank composition are described in relation to stand age and distance from forest edges. A mean viable seed density of 1118+/-217/m² was present under the kauri forest sites. While the seed bank contained both native (77%) and adventive species (23%), its composition was not closely related to that of the extant vegetation. The abundance of adventive and native herbaceous components of the seed bank declined as stand age increased, while that of native woody secondary species remained relatively constant. The abundance of adventive species also declined significantly with increasing distance from forest edges.

Keywords  soil seed bank; secondary succession; stand age; woody species; native herbs and sedges; forest edges; distance; adventive species; Agathis australis; Waipoua forest; Trounson Kauri Park

New Zealand Journal of Botany, 1995, Vol. 33: 221-235

0028-825X/95/3302-0221 $2.50/0 (c) The Royal Society of New Zealand 1995

PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (687K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)

This year's abstracts | Journal home page | All abstracts | Publishing home page