Horqin Steppe, located in the semiarid agropastoral zone of northern China, has undergone severe desertification during the past decades with the formation of active dunes, degeneration of natural vegetation, and loss of biodiversity. In many areas annuals are major contributors to the vegetation and previous work indicates that germination characteristics have a key role in determining colonizing ability in this arid sand dune habitat. There is, however, a shortage of germination data. Accordingly, we have...