Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Nutrient limitation and soil development: Experimental test of a biogeochemical theory

  • Published:
Biogeochemistry Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Walker & Syers (1976) proposed a conceptual model that describesthe pattern and regulation of soil nutrient pools and availability during long-term soil and ecosystem development. Their model implies that plantproduction generally should be limited by N on young soils and by P on oldsoils; N and P supply should more or less equilibrate onintermediate-aged soils. We tested the application of this model to nutrientlimitation, using a well characterized substrate age sequence in Hawaiianmontane rain forest. Earlier experiments had evaluated nutrient limitationin forests on a young (300 y) and an old (4,100,000 y) substrate on the samedevelopmental sequence; N alone limited tree growth on the youngsubstrate, while P alone did so on the old one. An additional fertilizerexperiment based on replicated treatments with N, P, and all othernutrients combined, applied in individually and in all factorialcombinations, was established in an intermediate-aged site in theLaupahoehoe Forest Reserve, Hawaii. Here, diameter increments of thedominant tree Metrosideros polymorpha increased slightly with Nadditions, and nearly doubled when N and P were added together.Additions of elements other than N and P had no significant effecton growth. These results show that N and P had equilibrated (relativeto plant requirements) in the intermediate aged site. Together withthe earlier experiments, these results suggest that the Walker and Syersmodel provides a useful starting point for explaining the nature anddistribution of nutrient limitation in forest ecosystems.

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

  • Aber JD, Magill A, McNulty SG, Boone RD, Nadelhoffer KJ, Downs M & Hallett R (1995) Forest biogeochemistry and primary production altered by nitrogen saturation. Water, Air and Soil Pollution 85: 1665–1670

    Google Scholar 

  • Bloom AJ, Chapin FS & Mooney HA (1985) Resource limitation in plants: an economic analogy. Ann. Rev. Ecol. and System. 16: 363–392

    Google Scholar 

  • Bormann BT & Sidle RC (1990) Changes in productivity and distribution of nutrients in a chronosequence at Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska. J. Ecol. 78: 561–578

    Google Scholar 

  • Chapin FS, Vitousek PM & Van Cleve K (1986) The nature of nutrient limitation in plant communities. American Naturalist 127: 48–58

    Google Scholar 

  • Chapin FS, Walker LR, Fastie CL & Sharman LC (1994) Mechanisms of primary succession following deglaciation at Glacier Bay, Alaska. Ecological Monographs 64: 149–175

    Google Scholar 

  • Clague DA & Dalrymple GB (1987). The Hawaiian-Emperor volcanic chain: Geologic evolution. In: Decker RW, Wright TC & Stuaffer PH (Eds) Volcanism in Hawaii (pp 5–54). United States Geological Survey, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  • Cole CV & Heil RD (1981) Phosphorus effects on terrestrial nitrogen cycling. In: Clark FE & Rosswall TH (eds) Terrestrial Nitrogen Cycles (pp 363–374). Ecological Bulletin, Stockholm

    Google Scholar 

  • Cole CV, Stewart JWB, Ojima D, PartonWJ & Schimel DS (1989). Modelling land use effects on soil organic matter dynamics in the North American Great Plains. In: Clarholm M & Bregstrom L (Eds) Ecology of Arable Land: Perspectives and Challenges (pp 89–98). Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands

    Google Scholar 

  • Crews TE, Kitayama K, Fownes JH, Riley RH, Herbert DA, Mueller-Dombois D & Vitousek PM (1995) Changes in soil phosphorus fractions and ecosystem dynamics across a long chronosequence in Hawaii. Ecology 76: 1407–1424.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crocker RL & Major J (1955) Soil development in relation to vegetation and surface age at Glacier Bay, Alaska. J. Ecol. 43: 427–448

    Google Scholar 

  • Cuevas E & Medina E (1988) Nutrient dynamics within Amazonian forests: Fine root growth, nutrient availability, and leaf litter decomposition. Oecologia 76: 222–235

    Google Scholar 

  • Dahlgren RA (1994) Soil acidification and nitrogen saturation from weathering of ammoniumbearing rock. Nature 368: 838–841

    Google Scholar 

  • Fastie CL (1995) Causes and ecosystem consequences of multiple pathways of primary succession at Glacier Bay, Alaska. Ecology 76: 1899–1916

    Google Scholar 

  • Field CB, Chapin III FS, Matson PA & Mooney HA (1992) Response of terrestrial ecosystems to the changing atmosphere: A resource-based approach. Ann. Rev. Ecol. and System. 23: 201–236

    Google Scholar 

  • Fox RL, de la Pena RS, Gavenda RT, Habte M, Hue NV, Ikawa H, Jones RC, Plucknett DL, Silva JA & Soltanpour P (1991) Amelioration, revegetation, and subsequent soil formation in denuded bauxitic materials. Allertonia 6: 128–184

    Google Scholar 

  • Galloway JN, Schlesingr WH, Levy II H, Michaels A & Schnoor JL (1995) Nitrogen fixation: Anthropogenic enhancement-environmental response. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 9: 235–252

    Google Scholar 

  • Gavenda RT (1992) Hawaiian quaternary paleoenvironments: a review of geological, pedological, and botanical evidence. Pacific Science 46: 295–307

    Google Scholar 

  • Giambelluca TW, Nullet MA & Schroeder TA (1986) Rainfall atlas of Hawaii. Dept. of Land and Natural Resources, State of Hawaii, Honolulu

    Google Scholar 

  • Gleeson SK & Tilman D (1992) Plant allocation and the multiple limitation hypothesis. American Naturalist 139: 1322–1343

    Google Scholar 

  • Gorham E, Vitousek PM & Reiners WA (1979) The regulation of element budgets over the course of terrestrial ecosystem succession. Ann. Rev. Ecol. and System. 10: 53–84

    Google Scholar 

  • Hedin LO, Granat L, Likens GE, Adri Buishand T, Galloway JN, Butler TJ & Rodhe H (1994) Steep declines in atmospheric base cations in regions of Europe and North America. Nature 367: 351–354

    Google Scholar 

  • Herbert D, Fownes JH & Vitousek PM submitted. Hurricane damage and recovery of a native Hawaiian rainforest and the impact of experimentally altered nutrient availability. Ecology

  • Herbert DA & Fownes JH (1995) Phosphorus limitation of forest leaf area and net primary production on a highly weathered soil. Biogeochem. 29: 223–235

    Google Scholar 

  • Hotchkiss SC & Juvik JO (1993) Pollen record from Kaau Crater, Oahu, Hawaii: Evidence for a dry glacial maximum. Bulleetin of the Ecological Society of America 74: 282

    Google Scholar 

  • Jenny H (1980). Soil Genesis with Ecological Perspectives. Springer-Verlag, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Kitayama K & Mueller-Dombois D (1995) Vegetation changes during long-term soil development in the Hawaiian montane rainforest zone. Vegetatio 120: 1–20

    Google Scholar 

  • Lajtha K & SchlesingerWH (1988) The biogeochemistry of phosphorus cycling and phosphorus availability along a desert soil chronosequence. Ecology 69: 24–39

    Google Scholar 

  • Lathwell DJ & Grove TL (1986). Soil-plant relationships in the tropics. Ann. Rev. Ecol. and System. 17: 1–16

    Google Scholar 

  • Lawrence DB, Schoenike RE, Quispel A & Bonds G (1967) The role of Dryas drummondiiin vegetation developmnet following ice recession at Glacier Bay, Alaska, with special reference to its nitrogen fixation by root nodules. J. Ecol. 55: 793–813

    Google Scholar 

  • Leisman GA (1957) A vegetation and soil chronosequence on the Mesabi Iron Range spoil banks, Minnesota. Ecol. Monographs 27: 221–245

    Google Scholar 

  • Liming FG (1957) Homemade dendrometers. J. Forestry 52: 575–577

    Google Scholar 

  • Linder S & Rook DA (1984). Effects of mineral nutrition on carbon dioxide exchange and partitioning of carbon in trees. In: Bowen GD & E. K. S. Nambiar EKS (Eds) Nutrition of Plantation Forests (pp 211–236). Academic Press, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Marrs RH, Roberts RD, Skeffington RA & Bradshaw AD(1983) Nitrogen and the development of ecosystems. In: Lee JA, McNeill S & Rorison IH (Eds) Nitrogen as an Ecological Factor (pp 113–116). Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • McGillW B & Cole CV(1981) Comparative aspects of cycling of organic C,N,S, and P through soil organic matter. Geoderma 26: 267–286

    Google Scholar 

  • Melillo JM, McGuire AD, Kicklighter DW, Moore B, Vorosmarty CJ & Schloss AL (1993) Global climate change and terrestrial net primary production. Nature 363: 234–240

    Google Scholar 

  • Newman EI (1995) Phosphorus inputs to terrestrial ecosystems. J. Ecol. 83: 713–726

    Google Scholar 

  • Qualls RG, Haines BL & Swank WT (1991) Fluxes of dissolved organic nutrients and humid substances in a deciduous forest. Ecology 72: 254–266

    Google Scholar 

  • Raich JW, Russell AE, Crews TE, Farrington H & Vitousek PM (1996) Both nitrogen and phosphorus limit plant production on young Hawaiian lava flows. Biogeochem. 32: 1–14

    Google Scholar 

  • Rastetter EB & Shaver GR (1992) A model of multiple element limitation for acclimating vegetation. Ecology 73: 1157–1174

    Google Scholar 

  • Riley RH & Vitousek PM (1995) Nutrient dynamics and trace gas flux during ecosystem development in Hawaiian montane rainforest. Ecology 76: 292–304

    Google Scholar 

  • Schimel DS, Braswell BH, Holland EA, McKeown R, Ojima DS, Painter TH, Parton WJ & Townsend AR (1994) Climatic, edaphic, and biotic controls over storage and turnover of carbon in soils. Global Biogeochem. Cycles 8: 279–294

    Google Scholar 

  • Schindler DW & Bayley SE (1993) The biosphere as an increasing sink for atmospheric carbon: Estimates from increasing nitrogen deposition. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 7: 717–733

    Google Scholar 

  • Stevens PR & Walker TW (1970) The chronosequence concept and soil formation. Quarterly Review of Biology 45: 333–350

    Google Scholar 

  • Swap R, Garstang M, Greco S, Talbot R & Kallbert P (1992) Saharan dust in the Amazon Basin. Tellus 44B: 133–149

    Google Scholar 

  • Tamm CO (1990) Nitrogen in Terrestrial Ecosystems: Questions of Productivity, Vegetational Change, and Ecological Stability. Springer-Verlag, Berlin

    Google Scholar 

  • Tanner EVJ, Kapos V, Freskos S, Healey J & Theobold AM (1990) Nitrogen and phosphorus fertilization of Jamaican montane forest trees. J. Trop. Ecol. 6: 231–238

    Google Scholar 

  • Tanner EJV, Kapos V & Franco W (1992) Nitrogen and phosphorus fertilization effects on Venezuelan montane forest trunk growth and litterfall. Ecology 73: 78–86

    Google Scholar 

  • Uehara G & Gillman G (1981). The Minerology, Chemistry, and Physics of Tropical Soils with Variable Charge Clays. Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado

  • VEMAP members (1995) Vegetation/ecosystem modeling and analysis project: Comparing biogeography and biogeochemistry models in a continental-scale study of terrestrial ecosystem responses to climate change and CO 2 doubling. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 9: 407–437

    Google Scholar 

  • Vitousek PM & Sanford RL Jr (1986) Nutrient cycling inmoist tropical forest. Ann. Rev. Ecol. and System. 17: 137–167

    Google Scholar 

  • Vitousek PM, Walker LR, Whiteaker LD & Matson PA (1993). Nutrient limitation to plant growth during primary succession in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Biogeochem. 23: 197–215

    Google Scholar 

  • Vitousek PM, Turner DR & Kitayama K (1995a) Foliar nutrients during long-term soil development in Hawaiian montane rain forest. Ecology 76: 712–720

    Google Scholar 

  • Vitousek PM, Gerrish G, Turner DR, Walker LR & Mueller-Dombois D (1995b) Litterfall and nutrient cycling in four Hawaiian montane rainforests. J. Trop. Ecol. 11: 189–203

    Google Scholar 

  • Walker LR & Aplet GH (1994) Growth and fertilization responses of Hawaiian tree ferns. Biotropica 26: 378–383

    Google Scholar 

  • Walker TW & Syers JK (1976) The fate of phosphorus during pedogenesis. Geoderma 15: 1–19

    Google Scholar 

  • Wood T, Bormann FH & Voight GK (1984) Phosphorus cycling in a northern hardwood forest: Biological and chemical control. Science 223: 391–393

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305, U.S.A

    PETER M. VITOUSEK & HERALDO FARRINGTON

Authors
  1. PETER M. VITOUSEK
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. HERALDO FARRINGTON
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

VITOUSEK, P.M., FARRINGTON, H. Nutrient limitation and soil development: Experimental test of a biogeochemical theory. Biogeochemistry 37, 63–75 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005757218475

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005757218475

Search

Navigation