The impact of fire on the soil seed bank and regeneration of Harenna Forest, southeastern Ethiopia

The composition and density of soil seed banks was studied at Harenna Forest after a major fire in the year 2000. Soil samples were collected from burned and unburned portions of the forest using quadrants 15 × 15 cm and 9 cm deep, laid along line transects. Forest recovery was also monitored on burned sites using permanent plots of 0.1 ha. One hundred fifty-five seedlings germinated from the soil samples, of which 140 and 15 were from the unburned and burned sites, respectively. The proportion of woody species found on the unburned site was 47%, while on the burned site only..