Hakalau Forest NWR plant, soil, litter, and decomposition data 2015-2019

Publication Date

2020-10-19

Start Date

2015-01-01

End Date

2019-08-31

Yelenik, S.G. and Rehm, E.M., 2020, Hakalau Forest NWR plant, soil, litter, and decomposition data 2015-2019: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P9XY3LLI.

Tree species can have large effects on soil nutrients in ways that alter succession, especially in the case of nitrogen (N) fixing trees, and it is not clear whether it is possible to reverse high soil N via management. In Hawaiʻi, forest restoration relies heavily on use of a native N-fixing tree, Acacia koa (koa), but this species increases soil available N and facilitates exotic pasture grasses. In contrast, Metrosideros polymorpha (‘ōhi‘a), the dominant native tree over most of the Hawaiian Islands, is rarely planted because it is slow growing yet it is associated with lower soil N and grass biomass, and greater native understory recruitment. We asked whether it is possible to reverse high soil N under koa by adding ‘ōhi‘a litter, and whether litter amendments could alter grass biomass and native understory survival. We initiated a grass removal/litter addition experiment adding 4 times the natural litterfall rate, and outplanted understory species into these same plots.

ScienceBase WMS

• Pacific Island Ecosystems Research Center
• USGS Data Release Products