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Department of Botany and Microbiology, College of Science. King Saud University,
P.O. Box 2455. Riyadh 11451. Saudi Arabia

ABSTRACT

Soil-seed content of the desert vegetation in Wadi Al-Ammaria Riyadh, Saudi Arabia was evaluated. The soil seed bank was assessed using soil sample, from eight community types which form distinct vegetation units of the study area. The germinable seeds contained in the uppermost 2 cm of the soil showed a great diversity among the different communities. It ranged between 37 seedlings m^-2 in the soil inhabited by Alhagi maurorum to 2478 seedlings m^-2 in the soil inhabited by a Rhazya stricta community type. The seed output exhibited a wide variation among the investigated species. It ranged between 168 seeds per individual plant of lagonychium farcatum to 20775 seeds in Haloxylon salicornicum.

Keywords: Desert ecology, plant communities, Saudi Arabia, seed ecology, soil seed bank.