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.