Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T06:27:04.914Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Nitrogen and phosphorus fertilization of Jamaican montane forest trees*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

E. V. J. Tanner ,
V. Kapos ,
S. Freskos ,
J. R. Healey  and
A. M. Theobald
E. V. J. Tanner
Affiliation:
The Botany School, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EA, England
V. Kapos
Affiliation:
Missouri Botanical Garden, PO Box 299, St Louis, Missouri 63166, USA
S. Freskos
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, 2000 Percival Stern Hall, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA 70118, USA
J. R. Healey
Affiliation:
The Botany School, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EA, England
A. M. Theobald
Affiliation:
New Hall, Huntingdon Road, Cambridge CB3 ODF, England
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Plots in the Jamaican montane forest were fertilized with nitrogen or with phosphorus to test the hypothesis that growth of trees in this natural forest is limited by the supply of N and P from the soil.

Once a year from 1983 to 1986, urea was added to one plot (at 150 kg N ha−1 y−1) and triple superphosphate was added to another (at 50 kg P ha−1 y−1). In each of these plots and in two control plots, foliage of four common tree species was collected immediately before each fertilizer addition. Trunk growth was measured in 105 individuals.

Foliar N concentrations were not significantly higher in trees fertilized with N compared to control trees. In Dendropanax cf. pendulus and Hedyosmum arborescens fertilization with N resulted in lower P concentrations but only after the third year of fertilization, possibly due to dilution by increased leaf production. Mean trunk diameter growth was significantly higher in the N-fertilized trees than in controls.

Mean foliar P concentrations were higher in Podocarpus urbanii and Clethra occidentalis following fertilization with P, but only after two years of fertilization. Trunk diameter growth was greater in the P fertilized plot.

Thus growth in some Jamaican montane forest trees was limited by the natural supplies of N and of P.

Keywords

fertilizersforestJamaicanitrogenphosphorustropical
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 6 , Issue 2 , May 1990 , pp. 231 - 238
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1990

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

LITERATURE CITED

Chapin, F. S. III, Vitousek, P. M. & Van Cleve, K. 1986. The nature of nutrient limitation in plant communities. The American Naturalist 127:48–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gerrish, G. & Bridges, K. W. 1984. A thinning and fertilizer experiment in Metrosideros dieback stands in Hawaii. Hawaii Botanical Science Paper 43:1–107.Google Scholar
Grubb, P. J. 1977. Control of forest growth on wet tropical mountains. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 8:83–107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kapos, V. & Tanner, E. V. J. 1985. Water relations of Jamaican upper montane rain forest trees. Ecology 66:241–250.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peace, W. J. H. & Grubb, P. J. 1982. Interaction of light and mineral nutrient supply in the growth of Impatiens parviflora. New Phytologist 90:127–150.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tanner, E. V. J. 1977. Four montane rain forests of Jamaica: a quantitative characterization of the floristics, the soils and the foliar mineral levels, and a discussion of the interrelations. Journal of Ecology 65:883–918.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tanner, E. V. J. 1980a. Studies on the biomass and productivity in a series of montane rain forests in Jamaica. Journal of Ecology 68:573–588.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tanner, E. V. J. 1980b. Litterfall in a montane rain forest of Jamaica and its relation to climate. Journal of Ecology 68:833–848.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tanner, E. V. J. 1985. Jamaican montane forests: nutrient capital and cost of growth. Journal of Ecology 73:553–568.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vitousek, P. M. 1984. Litterfall, nutrient cycling, and nutrient limitation in tropical forests. Ecology 65:285–298.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vitousek, P. M. & Matson, P. A. 1984. Mechanisms of nitrogen retention in forest ecosystems: a field experiment. Science 225:51–52.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vitousek, P. M. & Matson, P. A. 1985. Disturbance, nitrogen availability, and nitrogen losses in an intensively managed loblolly pine plantation. Ecology 66:1360–1376.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vitousek, P. M., Walker, L. R., Whiteaker, L. D., Mueller-Dombois, D. & Matson, P. A. 1987. Biological invasion by Myrica faya alters ecosystem development in Hawaii. Science 238:802–804.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed