Soil Seed Bank and Natural Regeneration of Trees

Abstract

The current trend of natural resources utilization, such as soils is getting incompatible with the natural, biological, physical and chemical processes of ecosystems. Excessive pressure of increasing agricultural production has exerted a negative impact on soil and its associated resources development. As the agricultural frontiers are getting exhausted in terms of productivity, immediate need has been developed to bring previously considered marginal and peripheral lands under cultivation by clearing forest resources by posing a sever threat to different ecosystems. Forest plantations are generally considered as efficient ways for the sustained development, rehabilitation and protection of land resources. Forest plantations will also provide other ecosystem services like, timber and associated products, control of soil erosion, edible fruits, shelter for wildlife, moderating climate and weather and carbon sequestration. Apart from this, forest plantations will serve a natural medium for the succession of the forest in the understory by moderating the microclimate and by creating the conducive environment for the proper functioning of dispersal agents and the soil seed bank regeneration process. The objective of this article is, therefore, to outline the soil seed bank elements and the natural regeneration process of trees as knowledge about soil seed bank and regeneration process plays a vital role in the proper management of forest development activities and understanding of forest dynamics.