Soil characteristics influence species composition and forest structure differentially among tree size classes in a Bornean heath forest

Sellan, Giacomo; Thompson, Jill; Majalap, Noreen; Brearley, Francis Q.

doi:10.1007/s11104-019-04000-5

Cited by 24 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 86 publications

(76 reference statements)

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“…Abiotic interaction and habitat filtering are also thought to be important contributors to the formation of species communities (Chesson 2000). Many studies have shown that biotic stress is the primary limiting factor in the enhancement of species diversity during the early stages and species composition is influenced by a variety of edaphic influences (Sellan et al 2019). In heath forests, the richness, structure, and composition of species are linked to edaphic and topographic factors, and soil acidity may play a significant role in shaping forest vegetation communities.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Floristic composition and species diversity in three habitat types of heath forest in Belitung Island, Indonesia

Oktavia

Pratiwi

Munawaroh³

et al. 2021

Biodiversitas

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Oktavia D, Pratiwi SD, Munawaroh S, Hikmat A, Hilwan I. 2021. Floristic composition and species diversity in three habitat types of heath forest in Belitung Island, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 22: 5555-5563. Exploring plant diversity, structure, and composition of vegetation in forest ecosystems is necessary for understanding the mechanism of species coexistence and forest dynamics, moreover in a unique and vulnerable ecosystem such as tropical heath forest (kerangas). We investigated the composition and structure of vegetation of heath forests in East Belitung, Indonesia in three habitat types, namely primary heath forest (rimba), secondary heath forest (bebak), and grassland (padang). Vegetation analysis was conducted using the combination of transect and plot method to calculate the importance value index (IVI) for all species and biodiversity indicators for each habitat type. We recorded 157, 135, and 31 species in rimba, bebak, and padang, respectively. The top three dominant families of species found were Myrtaceae, Clusiaceae, and Euphorbiaceae. In rimba, Syzygium lepidocarpa had the highest IVI for seedlings, Calophyllum lanigerum had the highest IVI for saplings, and Schima walichii had the highest IVI for trees. In bebak, Guioa pleuropteris had the highest IVI for seedlings, Garcinia hombroniana had the highest IVI for saplings, and Schima walichii had the highest IVI for trees. In padang, Fimbristylis sp. had the highest IVI for seedlings, while Leptospermum flavescens had the highest IVI for saplings and trees. Some pioneer species were found such as Rhodomyrtus tomentosa, Rhodamnia cinerea, Syzygium buxifolium. We also found two carnivorous plants Drosera burmannii and Nepenthes gracilis in padang, indicating that this habitat type is poor in nutrients in the soils. We suggested that the presence of species composition in the three habitat types of heath forest is an essential plant resource to be conserved and sustainably utilized. Establishing reserve areas to protect natural habitat and biodiversity is encouraged to provide proper ecosystem function for the people and nature.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Floristic composition and species diversity in three habitat types of heath forest in Belitung Island, Indonesia

Oktavia

Pratiwi

Munawaroh³

et al. 2021

Biodiversitas

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“…At local scales, topographical factors and soil nutrients have been widely recognized as significant determinants of forest community features ( Baldeck et al, 2013 ; Jucker et al, 2018 ; Zuleta et al, 2018 ; Sellan et al, 2019 ; Chun et al, 2020 ). In EDBMF, these factors turn out to be the important drivers for species distribution and composition ( Wang et al, 2014 ; Huang et al, 2015 ; Qiao et al, 2015b ; Wang et al, 2017 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disentangling Environmental Effects on the Tree Species Abundance Distribution and Richness in a Subtropical Forest

et al. 2021

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As a transitional vegetation type between evergreen broadleaved forest and deciduous broadleaved forest, evergreen-deciduous broadleaved mixed forest is composed of diverse plant species. This distinctive forest is generally distributed in mountainous areas with complex landforms and heterogeneous microenvironments. However, little is known about the roles of environmental conditions in driving the species diversity patterns of this forest. Here, based on a 15-ha plot in central China, we aimed to understand how and to what extent topographical characteristics and soil nutrients regulate the number and relative abundance of tree species in this forest. We measured environmental factors (terrain convexity, slope, soil total nitrogen, and phosphorus concentrations) and species diversity (species abundance distribution and species richness) in 20 m × 20 m subplots. Species abundance distribution was characterized by skewness, Berger–Parker index, and the proportion of singletons. The generalized additive model was used to examine the variations in diversity patterns caused by environmental factors. The structural equation model was used to assess whether and how topographical characteristics regulate species diversity via soil nutrients. We found that soil nutrients had significant negative effects on species richness and positive effects on all metrics of species abundance distribution. Convexity had significant positive effects on species richness and negative effects on all metrics of species abundance distribution, but these effects were mostly mediated by soil nutrients. Slope had significant negative effects on skewness and the Berger–Parker index, and these effects were almost independent of soil nutrients. Soil nutrients and topographical characteristics together accounted for 9.5–17.1% of variations in diversity patterns and, respectively, accounted for 8.9–13.9% and 3.3–10.7% of the variations. We concluded that soil nutrients were more important than topographical factors in regulating species diversity. Increased soil nutrient concentration led to decreased taxonomic diversity and increased species dominance and rarity. Convexity could be a better proxy for soil nutrients than slope. Moreover, these abiotic factors played limited roles in regulating diversity patterns, and it is possible that the observed patterns are also driven by some biotic and abiotic factors not considered here.

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“…Only in the dry season (approximately March to May) does the precipitation drop below 100 mm per month (Fox, 1973; Nilus, 2003). The soil underlying this heath forest area is an infertile spodosol (Sellan et al, 2019) with low concentrations of available nitrogen (8.5 ± 1.1 μg

{NH}_{4}^{+}

/g and 0.59 ± 0.1 μg

{NO}_{3}^{-}

/g using 1 M KCl extraction), and extractable phosphorus (14.1 ± 1.2 μg/g using Mehlich I extraction) and acidic pH (3.71 ± 0.04) (for details, see Sellan et al, 2019).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, an increase in available Al could promote nutrient uptake by replacing H + as a co-transported ion. Soil in our experimental forest plots had an extremely low available Fe concentration (mean of 26 μg/g; Sellan et al, 2019) and low exchangeable Al concentration (mean of 0.5 cmol c /kg; Sellan et al, 2019). This is much lower than in the CaCO 3 we used for our experiment that we found had high Al (6,420 μg Al/g; Sellan, 2019) and Fe concentrations (11,530 μg Fe/g; Sellan, 2019).…”

Section: Species Functional Strategy Correlates With Response To Fert...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of species functional strategy on leaf stoichiometric responses to fertilizer in a Bornean heath forest

et al. 2022

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The distribution of Bornean heath forest on white sand soils is believed to be due to element limitation and soil acidity. To determine the impact of both element limitation and soil acidity on tropical heath forest, we established a soil fertilization experiment to investigate the impact that increased soil N availability and reduced soil pH (using lime/CaCO3) had on a range of elements in tree leaves. We hypothesized that alterations in soil resource availability would cause changes in the tree leaf N:P ratio and concentrations of other elements and these changes would be influenced by species' functional strategies. The experiment was carried out in a Bornean heath forest on infertile soil over a 2‐year period. We selected 10 common tree species, spanning acquisitive to conservative strategies and tested whether tree species functional strategies influenced tree leaf elemental concentrations after the fertilization. Leaf N:P ratios showed considerable differences among co‐occurring species. Overall, we found that soil N addition treatments increased leaf N concentration, although leaf N:P ratios were not affected. Changes in leaf Al, Fe and S concentrations were correlated with species functional strategy: conservative species showed a greater increase in leaf Fe compared with acquisitive species, whereas acquisitive species showed a greater increase in leaf Al but a decrease in leaf S compared with conservative species. Synthesis. We show that soil elements uptake differs between acquisitive and conservative species and that acquisitive species may not take up soil elemental resources more effectively than conservative species. We suggest that the greater Fe acquisition by conservative species, in comparison to acquisitive species, might be due to a stress tolerance strategy. The overall increase in leaf N showed that, in this nutrient‐poor forest, N is a fundamental requirement irrespective of species functional strategies. Given the increased leaf Al and Fe concentration after liming, we also suggest that these elements are important, and possibly limiting (Fe), in this heath forest.

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Soil characteristics influence species composition and forest structure differentially among tree size classes in a Bornean heath forest

Abstract: There may be differences between this version and the publisher's version. You are advised to consult the publisher's version if you wish to cite from this article.

Cited by 24 publications

References 86 publications

Floristic composition and species diversity in three habitat types of heath forest in Belitung Island, Indonesia

Floristic composition and species diversity in three habitat types of heath forest in Belitung Island, Indonesia

Disentangling Environmental Effects on the Tree Species Abundance Distribution and Richness in a Subtropical Forest

Influence of species functional strategy on leaf stoichiometric responses to fertilizer in a Bornean heath forest

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