The species composition of the soil seed banks of fragmented forests was examined in a hill area of the southern part of Sanda city, Hyogo Prefecture. The forest vegetation of this area is composed of secondary forests dominated by Quercus serrata and Pinus densifolia. The soil seed banks of sixteen fragmentedforests dominated by Quercus serrata were investigated in June 1994 and January 1995. Forty tree species and three liana species were observed in the seed banks (syzoochore 36 species, anemochore 7 species) . The most abundant seed bank species was Eurya japonica (evergreen small shrub) and also abundant was Quercus serrata (deciduous canopy tree) . The number of buried seeds and the percentage of viable seeds varied between the two seasons. The average seed density of the 16 fragmented forests was 513 seeds/m 2 /5cm depth in June and 811 seeds/m 2 /5cm depth in January. The percentage of the viable seeds in the two seasons was 64% and 31%, respectively. Total numbers of buried seeds in each fragmented forest varied from 1913 to 13 seeds/m 2 /5cm depth. Sixty—two percent of seed bank species also appeared in the aboveground vegetation. Twenty—three species were common to both the vegetation and the buried seeds. Four gardening tree species were found among the buried seeds . Eighty—four percent of the buried seed species were bird—dispersed species . The number of species and the seed density of the buried seed banks varied among the 16 fragmented forests, but the proportion of species dispersed from outside decreased with increasing patch size of fragmented forest.
