AimsSoil seed bank is an important resource for plant regeneration, studying how changed precipitation amount and timing affect soil seed banks is helpful to understand seedling establishment and species regeneration dynamics.MethodsHere, a field manipulation experiment was conducted to study whether precipitation changes in different periods in a temperate steppe in northern China affect the soil seed bank.ResultsSoil seed density and richness in the upper soil layer were higher than the deeper layer under each precipitation treatment. Decreased precipitation during the entire growing season increased the seed density at the 0-5 cm and 5-10 cm soil layers by enhancing the abundance of annual plants. Decreased precipitation during the early growing season increased the seed richness at the 5-10 cm soil layer by enhancing microbial biomass carbon and fungal richness. There was significant difference in species composition between above-ground vegetation and soil seed bank. Precipitation changes did not affect these compositional differences excepting increased precipitation during the entire growing season had a slightly high similarity due to increased dominance of perennial species.ConclusionsOur findings suggest that soil seed bank is mainly regulated by the precipitation in the early and entire growing season rather than the late growing season, highlighting that the changes in spring or entire growing season precipitation is more important for assessing the contribution of soil seed bank on plant community dynamics.