Introduction. Soil seed banks (SSBs) are essential in ecological restoration since they reflect the composition of a local community, propagule dispersal, and they act as seed stocks. SSBs are also important determinants of seedling emergence and establishment. Many mountain forests near Bogota (Colombia) have been regenerating and, although there are studies regarding the standing vegetation in this area, few have focused on SSBs and seedlings. Thus, understanding SSB and seedling communities would provide valuable information about the dynamics of regeneration in these forests. Objective and hypothesis. My objective was to understand how SSBs and seedling (Sdl) diversity changed between young (SF) and old (OF) Tropical Mountain Forest and how soil characteristics can play a role in determining SSBs and Sdl composition. Despite marked differences in species composition, forest structure and edaphic conditions between SF and OF, I expected to find similarities in species composition in the SSBs between young and old forests. That is because SSBs are dominated by small seeded early-successional forests For the seedling's community, we expected to find differences in composition among the old and young forest. Materials and Methods. Ten plots were established in three different sites around Bogota as part of the Rastrojos project, five from OF and five from SF. I evaluated the SSB using the seedling emergence method in a greenhouse and conducted seedling surveys in the field to evaluate the seedling community. Also, I used nutrient fluxes and nutrient concentration data from the database of the Rastrojo project to analyze how SSB related to edaphic conditions. Results and Discussion. I found a Bray Curtis index of 0.48 between OF SSB and SF SSB, and a value of 0.51 between SF Sdl and OF Sdl. These findings suggest that the community composition of either SSB or Sdl do not differ largely between the types of forest. For the SSBs, I found that plots that were more similar regarding pH or NH4-N flux, were also more similar regarding SSB community composition. These edaphic characteristics are likely to affect seed viability and germination capacity. In contrast, for the seedling’s community, none of the other soil variables (bulk density, aluminum flux, phosphorus flux, nitrites flux, nitrates flux, C%, N%), were related to community composition except for soil and air temperature, Conclusion. Although SSBs are important in the early stages of regeneration, SSBs are partially different between successional stages. Likewise, seedlings community composition is not that different between SF and OF. Therefore, other factors (pH, NH4-N, soil temperature) may be more critical for the species' establishment in mature forests. Also, the site of study plays a major role for seedling and SSBs community assembly. Besides, according to the life stage (seed or seedling) different environmental factors are important in community assembly. It is necessary to continue studying these ecosystems since little is known about them, and furthering our knowledge is essential to understanding their ecology and improve management programs.
