Dormancy and Dispersal of Seeds of Secondary Forest Species Under the Canopy of a Primary Tropical Rain Forest in Northern Thailand

Abstract

Surface soil in five different habitats contained a stock of viable seeds awaiting suitable conditions for germination. Samples from under a mixed evergreen rain forest canopy included seeds of seral species not represented at the collection site. Seeds of species of Aralia, Macaranga, Mallotus, Melastoma, and Trema, all seral trees, germinated in soil samples from up to 175m, from the nearest source tree, and from as much as 20cm below rhe soil surface. The amount of seed in the soil was much greater than the annual rate of seed rain was measured and indicated that a store of seral tree seed can be built up over several years under primary forest.