Continuous grazing disrupts desert grass-soil seed bank composition under variable rainfall

Abstract

Long-term field studies help unveil mechanisms of grass soil seed bank (SSB) persistence and resilience. We wonder whether grazing is a disruptive force that changes grass SSB composition and size, while heavy rainfall is a positive bottom-up force that restores the grass SSB in grazed areas of the Monte desert, Argentina. We used core sampling to study the grass SSB in cattle-free (17 year) and grazed (10 year) grasslands. The SSB size in cattle-free sites usually responded in a continuous positive fashion to rainfall, and the proportion of palatable grasses in the SSB was similar among years. Most grass species formed a transient SSB, but the presence of a stand of perennial plants would prevent their local extinction. In contrast, the SSB size in the grazed habitats showed a threshold response to rainfall (i.e. it did not increase under low-moderate rainfall), the seeds of palatable grasses were always scarce, and the proportion of seeds of less palatable grasses increased under extreme rainy conditions. Seed production from grasses that grew tillers from axillary buds during a drought was zero, suggesting that the bank of plants could have a role in the replenishment of the grass SSB only in mesic years. Within the time span assessed here, continuous heavy grazing together with scarce as well as heavy rainfall were disruptive forces that reduced the number and proportion of seeds from palatable grasses in the SSB, which are also the species preferred by seed-eating animals.