Divergent patterns of richness and density in the global soil seed bank

Abstract

Soil seed banks are an important component of plant population and community dynamics, buffering temporal heterogeneity and allowing populations to recover following disturbance. At the same time, patterns in soil seed banks are likely to reflect scale-dependent patterns in above-ground vegetation, patterns that differ strongly across world regions. Here, we investigate components of diversity in the soil seed bank across global biomes and ecosystems. We find that patterns of species richness in the soil seed bank diverge from patterns of seed density, although our results indicate high levels of uncertainty, especially at smaller spatial scales. Importantly, we show that habitat degradation is consistently associated with lower richness, potentially limiting future ecosystem recovery. Among ecosystems, Mediterranean and tropical regions exhibit high species richness, but seed density m −2 in the soil is highest in wetlands and arable systems. We identify lower seed densities in both high-diversity tropical biomes that are characterised by short-lived seeds, and low-diversity boreal and tundra biomes with more stable established vegetation. Our findings of divergences between species richness and seed density across global biomes, and how they are impacted by habitat degradation, give valuable insights to the understanding of plant biodiversity worldwide.

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BibTeX RIS

BibTeX

@article{auffret2026divergent,
  title = {{Divergent patterns of richness and density in the global soil seed bank}},
  author = {Alistair Auffret and Emma Ladouceur and Natalie Haussmann and Petr Keil and Eirini Daouti and Tatiana Elumeeva and Ineta Kačergytė and Jonas Knape and Dorota Kotowska and Matthew Low and Vladimir Onipchenko and Matthieu Paquet and Diana Rubene and Jan Plue},
  journal = {Nature Communications},
  year = {2026},
  month = aug,
  doi = {10.1038/s41467-026-77079-x},
  url = {https://hal.science/hal-05769844v1},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}

RIS

TY  - JOUR
TI  - Divergent patterns of richness and density in the global soil seed bank
AU  - Alistair Auffret
AU  - Emma Ladouceur
AU  - Natalie Haussmann
AU  - Petr Keil
AU  - Eirini Daouti
AU  - Tatiana Elumeeva
AU  - Ineta Kačergytė
AU  - Jonas Knape
AU  - Dorota Kotowska
AU  - Matthew Low
AU  - Vladimir Onipchenko
AU  - Matthieu Paquet
AU  - Diana Rubene
AU  - Jan Plue
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/08/22
JO  - Nature Communications
DO  - 10.1038/s41467-026-77079-x
UR  - https://hal.science/hal-05769844v1
AB  - Soil seed banks are an important component of plant population and community dynamics, buffering temporal heterogeneity and allowing populations to recover following disturbance. At the same time, patterns in soil seed banks are likely to reflect scale-dependent patterns in above-ground vegetation, patterns that differ strongly across world regions. Here, we investigate components of diversity in the soil seed bank across global biomes and ecosystems. We find that patterns of species richness in the soil seed bank diverge from patterns of seed density, although our results indicate high levels of uncertainty, especially at smaller spatial scales. Importantly, we show that habitat degradation is consistently associated with lower richness, potentially limiting future ecosystem recovery. Among ecosystems, Mediterranean and tropical regions exhibit high species richness, but seed density m −2 in the soil is highest in wetlands and arable systems. We identify lower seed densities in both high-diversity tropical biomes that are characterised by short-lived seeds, and low-diversity boreal and tundra biomes with more stable established vegetation. Our findings of divergences between species richness and seed density across global biomes, and how they are impacted by habitat degradation, give valuable insights to the understanding of plant biodiversity worldwide.
SN  - 2041-1723
SN  - 2041-1723
ER  -

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