Fig. 2

a First structural equation model (SEM) linking rainfall in the growing season to species richness (VE richness) and abundance (VE abundance) of the aboveground vegetation and to species richness (SB richness) and abundance (SB abundance) of the soil seed bank in each quadrat. b Second SEM linking microtopographic conditions to species richness and abundance of aboveground vegetation, and shrub coverage to species richness and abundance of the soil seed bank. Red, blue and dotted arrows represent significant positive, negative and nonsignificant effects at 0.05 level, respectively (n = 148). Numbers indicate the significant standard path coefficients and the thickness of the colored arrows reflects its relative magnitude. Letters a–c in the above figure denote groupings via post-hoc tests. Multiple R² is displayed at the top of each response variable