Implications of Invasive Species Removal, Soil Properties and Plant Functional Traits on Survival and Co-occurrence of Above-ground Vegetation with Soil Seed Bank

Ecological restoration partially relies on plant regeneration from the above-ground vegetation (AGV) and soil seed banks (SSB); however, the co-occurrence of species in these sources vary across ecosystems. In this study, we measured soil properties and surveyed SSB and AGV, monitored regenerants for two years to estimate survival rates. We assessed the variation of species abundance in AGV, SSB and natural regenerants using a log-linear model and tested for correlation between soil properties using Pearson’s correlation coefficient and the association between the importance value index and survival rate of regenerants using generalised linear models. We found within-community dissimilarity between AGV and SSB, and the co-occurrence of species was predicted by periods of invasive species removal. There were five (4.46%) common species and five (4.46%), 34 (30.36%) and 42 (37.5%) exclusive species in natural regenerants, SSB and AGV, respectively. The common species among all periods of invasive species removal were 12.5%, 20%, and 41.7% in AGV, natural regenerants, and SSB, respectively. The diversity of SSB was positively associated with the survival rate of regenerants, but not AGV diversity. Survival rates of regenerants were associated with seed mass but not plant height, while plant functional traits were not associated with importance value indices of AGV. These findings show that native plant recovery can be accelerated by removal of invasive species; however, diversity differences exist between AGV and SSB, which were not necessarily modulated by plant functional traits and soil characteristics.