Soil seed bank and vegetation in mixed coniferous forest stands with different disturbance regimes

We studied the soil seed bank in mesophyte mixed spruce forest in Koeru, central Estonia, represented by three old stands with low intensity management, and three young regenerating planted stands in areas clear-cut 20–25 years ago. The seed bank consisted of 36-plant species altogether, of which 14 were not represented in the vegetation. There were 42 phanerogam species in the forest understory, which were not represented in the seed bank. There were on average 900 seeds per m2 in the top 10 cm soil layer, this number was significantly higher in young (1105 seeds) than in old (640 seeds) stands. Differences in the seed bank between the top 0–5 and 5–10 cm layers were negligible. Rubus idaeus and Carex pallescens were the most abundant species in the seed bank, the first species being abundant in old stand gaps, whereas the second was not represented in the vegetation. CA ordination showed that community composition differed between the vegetation and the seed bank, as well as between young and old stands. Within both young and old stands, there was a poor correspondence between the vegetation and the seed bank.