Origin of and resulting floristic composition from seedbanks in agroforestry systems of Tomé‐Açu, Eastern Amazon

The objective of this study was to verify the origin of and resulting floristic composition from seedbanks in different agroforestry systems in Tomé‐Açu, Brazil. The seedbanks were sampled in three smallholder farmers (Demonstration Units = DU), each with three agroforestry treatments and secondary forest as control. Seedling emergence in a glasshouse was used to quantify and identify the seeds collected in 2008. The floristic composition of the above‐ground community was characterised with annual floristic surveys from 2008 to 2011. The total densities and diversity of the seedbanks were not different among the treatments within a given DU, but differences occurred among DU. The most abundant woody species had higher seed densities in the secondary forests than in DU. Conversely, among the herbaceous species, two groups were differentiated: species with similar densities between the DU and the secondary forest and species with higher density in the DU. In the DU, the similarity between the floristic composition of the seedbank and the flora surveyed in 2008 was high, but decreased in subsequent years. The species present in the seedbank of agroforestry systems are highly influenced by the secondary forest, but provide little information about the floristic composition that will arise in the future.