Figures Captions
Fig. 1. Geographical location of the study area and fifteen sites in which all three shrub species were found closed to each other in each site.
Fig. 2. Sampling areas had three shrub species ofAmygdalus scoparia (A), Daphne mezereum (B) andEbenus stellata (C) that formed woody patches in the surrounding herbaceous vegetation, used as control (D) for comparing soil seed bank density and composition, Chenarnaz rangelands, Yazd province, Iran (30° 03′ 51″ N - 30° 05′ 89″ N; 53° 00′ 16″ E - 54° 01′ 23″ E).
Fig. 3. Mean densities (±SE) of seeds that germinated under three shrubs (Amygdalus scoparia , Daphne mezereum andEbenus stellata ) and herbaceous vegetation, Chenarnaz Rangelands, Yazd province, Iran. Lower case letters indicate statistically significant differences (P <0.05) among patch types.
Fig. 4. Mean species richness (± SE) of germinants under three shrubs (Amygdalus scoparia , Daphne mezereum andEbenus stellata ) and herbaceous vegetation, Chenarnaz Rangelands, Yazd province, Iran. Lower case letters indicate statistically significant differences (P <0.05) among patch types.
Fig. 5 . Mean (± SE) Shannon and Simpson diversity indices under three shrubs (Amygdalus scoparia , Daphne mezereum andEbenus stellata ) and herbaceous vegetation, Chenarnaz Rangelands, Yazd province, Iran. Lower case letters indicate statistically significant differences (P <0.05) among patch types.
Fig. 6. Mean (± SE) Jaccard similarity index between soil seed bank and above-ground vegetation under three shrubs (Amygdalus scoparia , Daphne mezereum and Ebenus stellata ) and herbaceous vegetation, Chenarnaz Rangelands, Yazd province, Iran. Lower case letters indicate statistically significant differences (P <0.05) among patch types.
Appendix. 1. Average soil seed bank density of each species under the canopy of each shrub (the digits). *presence of the species in the above-ground vegetation.