Concurrent assessment of functional types in extant vegetation and soil seed banks informs environmental constraints and mechanisms of plant community turnover in temperate forests of south-eastern Australia

•Soil seed banks of wet temperate forests provide a storage effect.•Fire-cued germination concentrated in ant-dispersed species.•Germination of shade-tolerant species not enhanced by fire cues.•Edaphic variability and structural complexity promote plant diversity.•Practices that generate heterogenous environments will benefit biodiversity.