Soil seed banks preserve plant diversity, but traditional germination methods often miss dormant or hard-to-germinate species. Our study tested metabarcoding as an alternative, finding that DNA-based sequencing was more reliable than RNA and that water treatments influenced sequencing results. When applied to a degraded chaparral site, metabarcoding detected fire-followers and hemiparasitic plants that germination assays overlooked, demonstrating its value in improving seed bank surveys.
