Soil seed bank and seed rain in the seasonally dry tropical forest

We used this data to examine to what extent these two primary seed sources –seed rain and seed bank– are contributing to the community assemblage, and how the dispersal phenology and dispersal syndrome can explain those contributions. We developed this study in a small-protected area of SDTF in Southwestern Ecuador. This area represents one of the last SDTF remnants below 100 m a.s.l. along the South America pacific coast. We considered this area might be useful as a reference site of “pristine forest” to guide restoration actions. These data were used to manuscript Jara-Guerrero et al. Dispersal syndrome influences the match between seed rain and soil seed bank of woody species in a Neotropical dry forest. Journal of Vegetation Science. Sampling of the seed rain Seed traps were used to sample the seed rain. Traps were made of a mesh fabric with holes < 0.5 mm to allow water runoff while preventing seed loss. The fabric was placed on a square metal frame 80 cm long (0.64 m2) located 80 cm above the ground (Stevenson & Vargas 2008). We placed 265 traps in a regular grid in an area of 220 x 220 m of forest (4.8 ha), in the central part of the 9 ha plot. Sampling of the soil seed bank Soil seed bank was sampled once between November and December 2011, at the end of the dry season, when most seeds had been dispersed and before germination started in the rainy season. This sampling date corresponds with the moment in which the soil seed samples reach their maximum diversity and density, i.e., it includes both the transient and the persistent soil seed bank (Caballero et al., 2005; Espinosa et al., 2013). As in the case of the seed rain, 265 soil samples were collected in 0.25 x 0.25 x 0.03 m squares located adjacent to the seed traps, adding up to a total sampled area of 16.56 m2. Seed bank composition was assessed using the germination method, which allows estimating viable seeds in the soil (Bigwood & Inouye, 1988; Holzapfel et al., 1993; Caballero et al., 2008).本数据集旨在探究两种核心种子源——降雨种子流（seed rain）与土壤种子库（seed bank）——对植物群落组装的贡献程度，并解析传播物候与传播综合征如何解释该贡献模式。本研究于厄瓜多尔西南部一处小型受保护的季热带旱林（Seasonally Dry Tropical Forest, SDTF）区域开展，该区域是南美太平洋沿岸海拔低于100米的现存季热带旱林残余斑块之一。我们认为该区域可作为“原始森林”参考样地，用于指导植被修复工作。本数据集支撑了Jara-Guerrero等学者发表于《Journal of Vegetation Science》的研究论文：《传播综合征调控新热带旱林中木本植物的降雨种子流与土壤种子库匹配关系》。 #### 降雨种子流采样 本研究采用种子诱捕器采集降雨种子流。诱捕器由孔径小于0.5毫米的网布制成，可在保障水分渗漏的同时避免种子流失；网布固定于边长80厘米（面积0.64平方米）的方形金属框架上，框架离地高度为80厘米（参照Stevenson与Vargas 2008的方法）。我们在9公顷样地的中心区域，于220×220米（总面积4.8公顷）的森林样区内以规则网格布设265个种子诱捕器。 #### 土壤种子库采样 土壤种子库采样于2011年11月至12月（旱季末期）完成，此时多数种子已完成传播，且雨季萌发尚未开始。该采样节点恰好对应土壤种子样本多样性与密度达到峰值的时期，可同时涵盖暂时性与持久性土壤种子库（参照Caballero等人, 2005; Espinosa等人, 2013的方法）。与降雨种子流采样一致，我们在每个种子诱捕器相邻位置采集0.25×0.25×0.03米的土样，共获取265份土样，总采样面积达16.56平方米。本研究采用萌发法评估土壤种子库组成，该方法可用于估算土壤中具有活力的种子数量（参照Bigwood与Inouye, 1988; Holzapfel等人, 1993; Caballero等人, 2008的方法）。