Abstract: An investigation was made on the soil seed banks in the logging gaps o f Populus davidiana-Betula platyphylla secondary forest, secondary broad-l eaved forest, and broad-leaved Korean pine mixed forest at their different succ ession stages in Changbai Mountains. Among the test forests, secondary broad-le aved forest had the highest individual density (652 ind·m-2) in its soil seed bank. With the succession of forest community, the diversity and uniformity of soil seed bank increased, but the dominance decreased. The seed density of c limax species such as Pinus koraiensis, Abies nephrolepis, and Acer mono increased, whereas that of Maackia amurensis and Fraxinus mandshurica d ecreased. Moreover, the similarity in species composition between soil seed bank and the seedlings within logging gaps became higher. The individual density and similarity between soil seed bank and the seedlings in non-logging gaps were s imilar to those in logging gaps. All of these indicated that soil seed bank prov ided rich seed resources for forest recovery and succession, and the influence o f soil seed bank on seedlings regeneration increased with the succession.

Key words: Pinus tabulaeformis fores, granite parent material, limestone parent material, total nitrogen, available phosphorus, available potassium.