Global warming, elevated atmospheric CO2 concentrations and increased likeliness of extreme drought and wildfires in many regions will likely favour C4 grass species. To support future management actions, we explored the effect of the encroachment of an invasive perennial C4 grass, Sporobolus cryptandrus on the composition of soil seed banks in dry sand grasslands in Central Europe. In five mass‐locality sites of the species we assessed the composition and vertical segmentation of the soil seed bank in 12 1‐m2 plots along an increasing cover of the invasive species. We found that the seed bank diversity and density decreased with increasing sampling depth; the decrease in density was affected by the increasing S. cryptandrus cover. Neither the diversity nor the seed bank density of other species were affected by increasing S. cryptandrus cover but both were affected by the sampling site. Most of the studied seed bank characteristics were affected by the sampling depth, but none of them were affected by the increasing cover of S. cryptandrus. Increasing cover of S. cryptandrus in the vegetation was associated with an increasing proportion of S. cryptandrus seeds in the seed bank, and we found a low‐density soil seed bank of the species even in plots with no S. cryptandrus cover. Our finding that S. cryptandrus forms a massive soil seed bank, together with the predicted decrease in the precipitation of the summer months and increase in the frequency of droughts in the region, projects further rapid spread of the species.

中文翻译：

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入侵沙滴种子（Sporobolus cryptandrus）积累的土壤种子库对其抑制提出了挑战


全球变暖、大气中二氧化碳浓度升高以及许多地区发生极端干旱和野火的可能性增加，可能有利于 C4 草种。为了支持未来的管理行动，我们探讨了入侵性多年生 C4 草 Sporobolus cryptandrus 的侵蚀对中欧干沙草原土壤种子库组成的影响。在该物种的五个集中地点，我们评估了 12 个 1 m2 地块中土壤种子库的组成和垂直分割，以及入侵物种覆盖范围的增加。我们发现种子库的多样性和密度随着采样深度的增加而降低；密度的下降受到隐山鳅覆盖面积增加的影响。其他物种的多样性和种子库密度均不受 S. cryptandrus 覆盖范围增加的影响，但均受到采样地点的影响。大多数研究的种子库特征都受到采样深度的影响，但没有一个受到 S. cryptandrus 覆盖范围增加的影响。植被中 cryptandrus 覆盖率的增加与种子库中 cryptandrus 种子比例的增加有关，即使在没有 cryptandrus 覆盖的地块中，我们也发现了该物种的低密度土壤种子库。我们发现 S. cryptandrus 形成了一个巨大的土壤种子库，加上预计夏季降水量减少和该地区干旱频率增加，预计该物种将进一步快速传播。