Abstract
We applied fertilizers in a 23complete factorial design to determine the effects of nutrient amendments on plant growth in Hawaiian montane forests growing on two different volcanic substrates: ‘a‘ā and pāhoehoe lava. Both sites were about 140 years old and their overstories were nearly monospecific stands of Metrosideros polymorpha. Fertilizer applications included N, P, a mixture of essential macro- and micronutrients excepting P and N, and all combinations thereof in each of four blocks. Additions of nutrients other than N or P had no significant effects on measured plant-growth variables. In contrast, additions of either N or P significantly increased tree height growth, diameter increments, biomass growth, and height growth of the understory fern Dicranopteris linearis in both sites. The effect of N was greater than that of P. Greatest growth rates occurred in plots receiving both N and P, and signficant N*P interactions occurred in several cases, suggesting a synergistic effect between these two elements. Plant growth on these young, poorly weathered, basaltic lavas is colimited by N and P availability. Growth in a similar-aged stand growing on a mixture of volcanic ash and cinders is N but not P limited, indicating that the texture of the parent material influences nutrient-availability patterns during early primary succession.
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Raich, J.W., Russell, A.E., Crews, T.E. et al. Both nitrogen and phosphorus limit plant production on young Hawaiian lava flows. Biogeochemistry 32, 1–14 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00001529
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00001529