Abstract: With the development of society and economy, the restoration of damaged ecosystems has gradually become a hot topic in ecological research. The method of donated soil seed bank not only utilizes the potential vegetation community characteristics of soil seed bank, but also introduces soil and soil native biological community into damaged ecosystems to promote ecosystem restoration. We summarized the progress of the application of the donated soil seed bank method in the field of vegetation restoration, and analyzed its advantages over other vegetation restoration techniques. The development of donated soil seed bank method, key influencing factors for implementing donated soil seed bank, limitations and challenges of the donated soil seed bank method are also reviewed. The problems currently encountered in the implementation of the donated soil seed bank method are evaluated. Accordingly, emphases for future research and application of donated soil seed bank are proposed. Efforts should be focused on combining soil seed bank donation method with other vegetation restoration methods, protecting the donor site soil after soil collection, developing conservation measures after the application of soil seed bank donation method, and conducting long-term dynamic monitoring of recipient areas.

Key words: donated soil seed bank, vegetation restoration, influencing factor, effect evaluation, soil conservation