Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Organic matter inputs create variable resource patches on Puerto Rican landslides

  • Published:
Plant Ecology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Landslides are a frequent disturbance in montane tropical rainforests that result in heterogeneous environments for plant and soil development. Natural inputs of organic matter and associated nutrients contribute to soil fertility patchiness within landslides. To test the importance of organic matter and nutrient addition to landslide soil fertility and plant growth, we mixed three types of organic matter substrates that are common to landslides (Cecropia leaves, Cyathea fronds, and forest soil) and commercial fertilizer into recently eroded soil on five landslides in Puerto Rico. In addition, we sowed seeds of two common landslide colonists (Paspalum and Phytolacca) into the soil treatment plots in order to test treatment effects on seed germination and seedling growth. Soils, seed germination, and seedling growth were monitored for one year and the field experiment was replicated in a one-year screen-house experiment. Despite highly variable initial landslide conditions, responses to soil treatments were similar across all five landslides. The forest soil addition increased total soil nitrogen and soil organic matter on landslides within 60 days, whereas Cecropia leaves provided increased soil organic matter only after 210 days. Commercial fertilizer increased plant-available soil nitrogen and phosphorus within 60 days, and also increased seed germination of Paspalum seeds when compared to soils treated with Cecropia leaves. Despite these positive effects of treatments on soils and germination, there were no treatment effects on seedling growth in the field, perhaps due to leaching or other losses of soil nutrients evident in the lack of significant treatment differences in soil resources at 370 days. In the screen-house, forest soil and commercial fertilizer treatments significantly increased soil fertility and seedling growth of both Paspalum and Phytolacca compared to control treatments. These different responses to three common types of organic matter inputs create patchy soil conditions with important implications for plant colonization and landslide succession.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Alpkem Corporation (1992). The Flow Solution Operation Manual. Alpkem Corporation, Wilsonville, Oregon

    Google Scholar 

  • Binkley D. and Vitousek P. (1989). Soil nutrient availability. In: Pearcy R.W., Ehleringer J.R., Mooney H.A. and Rundel P.W. (eds) Plant Physiological Ecology. Chapman and Hall, New York, pp. 75–96

    Google Scholar 

  • Boccheciamp R.A. (1977). Soil survey of the Humacao area of eastern Puerto Rico. United States Department of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Service, Washington, D.C

    Google Scholar 

  • Brokaw N.V.L. (1998). Cecropia schreberiana in the Luquillo Mountains of Puerto Rico. The Botanical Review 64: 91–120

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown S., Lugo A.E., Silander S. and Liegel L. 1983. Research history and opportunities in the Luquillo Experimental Forest. United States Forest Service General Technical Report, SO-44 Washington, DC

  • Calderon-González F. 1993. The role of mycorrhizae in the nutrient absorptive strategy of important landslide colonizers. MSc thesis, University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico

  • Dalling J.W. and Tanner E.V.J. (1995). An experimental study of regeneration on landslides in montane rain forest in Jamaica. Journal of Ecology 83: 55–64

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ewel J.J. and Whitmore J.L. (1973). The ecological life zones of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. United States Forest Service Research Paper. ITF-18. Institute of Tropical Forestry, Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico

    Google Scholar 

  • Fernández D.S. and Myster R.W. (1995). Temporal variation and frequency distribution of photosynthetic photon flux densities on landslides in Puerto Rico. Tropical Ecology 36: 73-87

    Google Scholar 

  • Fetcher N., Haines B.L., Cordero R.A., Lodge D.J., Walker L.R., Fernández D.S. and Lawrence W.T. (1996). Responses of tropical plants to nutrients and light on a landslide in Puerto Rico. Journal of Ecology 84: 331–341

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Foth H.D. and Ellis B.G. (1997). Soil Fertility, 2nd Edition. Lewis Publishers, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Garwood N.C., Janos D.P. and Brokaw N. (1979). Earthquake-caused landslides: A major disturbance to tropical forests. Science 205: 997–999

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Guariguata M.R. (1990). Landslide disturbance and forest regeneration in the Upper Luquillo Mountains. Journal of Ecology 78: 814–832

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jenny H. (1980). The Soil Resource. Spinger-Verlag, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuo S. (1996). Phosphorus. In: Sparks D.L. (ed), Methods of Soil Analysis. Part 3, Chemical Methods. Soil Science Society of America and American Society of Agronomy, Madison, Wisconsin, pp. 894–895

    Google Scholar 

  • Larsen M.C. and Simon A. (1993). A rainfall intensity-duration threshold for landslides in a humid-tropical environment, Puerto Rico. Geografiska Annaler 75A: 13–23

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Larsen M.C. and Torres-Sánchez A.J. (1990). Rainfall-soil moisture relations in landslide-prone areas of a tropical rain forest, Puerto Rico. International Symposium of Tropical Hydrology and Fourth Caribbean Islands Water Resources Congress, San Juan, Puerto Rico, July 23–27

    Google Scholar 

  • Li Y., Ruan H., Zou X. and Myster R.W. (2005). The response of major soil decomposers to landslide disturbance in a Puerto Rican rainforest. Soil Science 170: 202–211

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Liogier H.A. and Martorell L.F. (1982). Flora of Puerto Rico and adjacent islands: a systematic synopsis. Editorial de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, Río Piedras, Puerto Rico

    Google Scholar 

  • Lodge D.J., Scatena F.N., Asbury C.E. and Sanchez M.J. (1991). Fine litterfall and related nutrient inputs resulting from Hurricane Hugo in subtropical wet and lower montane rain forest of Puerto Rico. Biotropica 23: 336–342

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lodge D.J., McDowell W.H. and McSwiney C.P. (1994). The importance of nutrient pulses in tropical forests. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 9: 384–387

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Melillo J.M., Aber J.D. and Muratore J.F. (1982). Nitrogen and lignin control of hardwood leaf litter decomposition dynamics. Ecology 63: 621–626

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Milliken G.A. and Johnson D.E. (1992). Analysis of Messy Data, Vol. I: Designed Experiments. Chapman and Hall, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • McLean E.O. (1982). Soil pH and lime requirement. In: Page A.L., Miller R.H. and Keeney D.R. (eds) Methods of Soil Analysis, Part 2, Chemical and Microbiological Properties, 2nd Edition. American Society of Agronomy and Soil Science Society of America, Madison, Wisconsin, pp. 199–224

    Google Scholar 

  • Myster R.W. and Walker L.R. (1997). Plant successional pathways on Puerto Rican landslides. Journal of Tropical Ecology 13: 165–173

    Google Scholar 

  • Palm C.A. and Sanchez P.A. (1991). Nitrogen release from the leaves of some tropical legumes as affected by their lignin and polyphenolic contents. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 23: 83–88

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Pickett S.T.A. and White P.S. (1985). The Ecology of Natural Disturbance and Patch Dynamics. Academic Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Pickett S.T.A., Wu J. and Cadenasso M.L. (1999). Patch dynamics and the ecology of disturbed ground: A framework for synthesis. In: Walker L.R. (ed.) Ecosystems of Disturbed Grounds. Elsevier, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, pp. 707–722

    Google Scholar 

  • Reever Morghan K.J. and Seastedt T.R. (1999). Effects of soil nitrogen reduction on nonnative plants in restored grasslands. Restoration Ecology 7: 51–55

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Restrepo C. and Vitousek P. (2001). Landslides, alien species, and the diversity of a Hawaiian montane mesic ecosystem. Biotropica 33: 409–420

    Google Scholar 

  • SAS Institute (1996). SAS Procedures Guide, Version 6.19. SAS Institute, Cary, North Carolina

    Google Scholar 

  • Seiders V.M. (1971). Geologic map of the El Yunque quadrangle, Puerto Rico. United States Geologic Survey Map I-658. United States Governmental Printing Office, Washington, D.C

    Google Scholar 

  • Shiels A.B. 2002. Bird perches and soil amendments as revegetation techniques for landslides in Puerto Rico. MSc Thesis. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

  • Shiels A.B. and Walker L.R. (2003). Bird perches increase forest seeds on Puerto Rican landslides. Restoration Ecology 11: 457–465

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shiels A.B. Leaf litter decomposition and substrate chemistry of early successional species on landslides in Puerto Rico. Biotropica (in press)

  • Silver W.L., Scatena F.N., Johnson A.H., Siccama T.G. and Watt F. (1996). At what temporal scales does disturbance affect belowground nutrient pools?. Biotropica 28: 441–457

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Soil Survey Staff. 1995. Order 1 Soil Surveys of Luquillo Long-Term Ecological Research Grid, Puerto Rico. United States Department of Agriculture, Natural Resource Conservation Service

  • Sollins P. (1998). Factors influencing species composition in tropical lowland rain forest: Does soil matter? Ecology 79: 23–30

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sparks D.L. (1995). Environmental Soil Chemistry. Academic Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Steel R.D. and Torrey J.H. (1980). Principles and Procedures of Statistics, 2nd Edition. McGraw-Hill, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Swift M.J., Heal O.W. and Anderson J.M. (1979). Decomposition in terrestrial ecosystems. University of California Press, Berkeley, California

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor C.M. (1994). Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of the El Verde Field Station, Puerto Rico. University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico

    Google Scholar 

  • van Coller A.L., Rogers K.H. and Heritage G.L. (2000). Riparian vegetation-environment relationships: complimentary of gradients versus patch heterogeneity approaches. Journal of Vegetation Science 11: 337–350

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • von Ende C.N. (1993). Repeated-measures analysis: Growth and other time-dependent measures. In: Scheiner S.M. and Gurevitch J. (eds) Design and Analysis of Ecological Experiments. Chapman and Hall, New York, pp. 113–137

    Google Scholar 

  • Waide R.B. and Lugo A.E. (1992). A research perspective on disturbance and recovery of a tropical montane forest. In: Goldammer J. (ed) Tropical Forest in Transition: Ecology of Natural and Anthropogenic Disturbance Processes. Berkhauser-Verlag, Basel, Switzerland, pp. 173–190

    Google Scholar 

  • Walker L.R. (1994). Effects of fern thickets on woodland development on landslides in Puerto Rico. Journal of Vegetation Science 5: 525–532

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walker L.R. and Neris L. (1993). Posthurricane seed rain dynamics in Puerto Rico. Biotropica 25: 408–418

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walker L.R. and Boneta W. (1995). Plant and soil responses to fire on a fern-covered landslide in Puerto Rico. Journal of Tropical Ecology 11: 473–479

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walker L.R., Zarin D.J., Fetcher N., Myster R.W. and Johnson A.H. (1996). Ecosystem development and plant succession on landslides in the Caribbean. Biotropica 28: 566–576

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xiong S. and Nilsson C. (1999). The effects of plant litter on vegetation: a meta-analysis. Journal of Ecology 87: 984–994

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zimmerman J.K., Pulliam W.M., Lodge D.J., Quinones-Orfila V., Fetcher N., Guzmán-Grajales S., Parrotta J.A., Asbury C.E., Walker L.R. and Waide R.B. (1995). Nitrogen immobilization by decomposing woody debris and the recovery of tropical wet forest from hurricane damage. Oikos 72: 314–322

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zink T.A. and Allen M.F. (1998). The effects of organic amendments on the restoration of a disturbed coastal sage scrub habitat. Restoration Ecology 6: 52–58

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This research was funded by a cooperative grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation, University of Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Forest Service, supporting the LEF Long-term Ecological Research Program (NSF grant no. DEB-00805238). Additional funding was provided by the University of Nevada, Las Vegas International Programs and the Department of Biological Sciences. We thank L. Weiss for her field and laboratory assistance throughout the duration of the project, as well as her encouragement to the primary author throughout this study. Helpful suggestions on the development of the project were provided by P. Klawinski, D.J. Lodge, H. Ruan, J. Thompson, and X. Zou. Additional field and laboratory assistance was provided by M. Aponte, T. Bragg, J. Falk-Sørensen, F. Landau, E. Noel, N. Pascual, and J. Shiels. We also thank B. Buck, F. Scatena, D. Liptzin, D. Wagner, J. Zimmerman, X. Zou, and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on an earlier draft of the manuscript.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Aaron B. Shiels

    Present address: Department of Botany, University of Hawaii at Manoa, 3190 Maile Way, Honolulu, Hawaii, 96822, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 4505 South Maryland Parkway, Las Vegas, NV, 89154-4004, USA

    Aaron B. Shiels, Lawrence R. Walker & Daniel B. Thompson

Authors
  1. Aaron B. Shiels
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Lawrence R. Walker
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Daniel B. Thompson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Aaron B. Shiels.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Shiels, A.B., Walker, L.R. & Thompson, D.B. Organic matter inputs create variable resource patches on Puerto Rican landslides. Plant Ecol 184, 223–236 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-005-9067-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-005-9067-2

Key words:

Search

Navigation