Soil seed banks in the Arasbaran Protected Area of Iran and their significance for conservation management

The Arasbaran Protected Area is an important but little studied nature reserve in NW Iran. In the past habitat heterogeneity and biodiversity have been threatened by over-exploitation; in the future depopulation may lead to partial abandonment. The soil seed bank was examined to see whether there are sufficient species represented as persistent seeds to reconstitute the vegetation in the event of habitat deterioration. There were differences between seed banks from different soils and vegetation types but essentially all soil seed banks contained few species and low densities of seed. Moreover, the species in the seed bank were unrepresentative of the vegetation. During future periods of changing land use it will be important to maintain the existing vegetation. There are however indications of successful recent conservation management. Annuals are abundant in the woodland seed bank but absent from the vegetation. The forest is recovering from the disturbance of collecting fire-wood.