The mechanisms affecting seedling establishment in restored savanna understories are seasonally dependent

1. Globally, agricultural land is increasingly being abandoned with over 200 million hectares recovering from agricultural use. Regeneration of plant communities sharply differ in their structure and composition after agricultural impacts, yet the mechanisms underpinning these dramatic changes are poorly understood. It is critical to determine the relative importance of abiotic and biotic factors that limit plant establishment and success during the recovery process. In particular, belowground competition for resources in soils impacted by former agricultural uses may play an especially important role in limiting plant establishment. Yet, belowground competition is generally studied less than aboveground, especially in the context of land-use history. 2. We compare plant establishment with and without belowground competition in the context of a large-scale experiment manipulating land-use histories (i.e., with and without a history of agriculture) and restoration of historical vegetatio...