Abstract
The vegetation on Yakushima Island, Japan, grows on soils derived from Akahoya volcanic ash, released from the Kikai Caldera about 7300 years ago. The eruption was devastating and it is believed that primary succession and soil formation reinitiated across all altitudes at this point. We hypothesize that the concentrations of soil total phosphorus (P) and labile P fractions increase with increasing altitude because the soil formation has progressed less in upslope areas as a result of the cooler temperature and because of the ample P source of the volcanic ash. Conversely, we hypothesize that the concentration of soil inorganic nitrogen (N) decreases with increasing altitude. Available soil P and N would result in increasing P limitation downslope and increasing N limitation upslope, respectively. We studied soil P fractions and soil inorganic N, and P- and N-use efficiencies of the seven forests on Yakushima along an elevation gradient (170–1550 m a.s.l.). Contrary to our hypotheses, soil total P, labile soil P fractions, and inorganic N decreased with increasing altitude. The P- and N-use efficiencies of the forests were negatively correlated with the concentration of soil total active P (total P minus occluded P) and inorganic N, respectively. We suggest that progressive soil acidity and slower decomposition under cooler and wetter environments upslope must have dissolved the P contained in volcanic ash and accelerated P leaching. Forest ecosystems on Yakushima that show a distinct altitudinal zonation are, therefore, characterized by increasing P and N shortage with increasing altitude.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aiba S, Hanya G, Tsujino R, Takyu M, Seino T, Kimura K, Kitayama K (2007) Comparative study of additive basal area of conifers in forest ecosystems along elevational gradients. Ecol Res 22:439–450
Aiba S, Akutsu K, Onoda Y (2013) Canopy structure of tropical and sub-tropical rain forests in relation to conifer dominance analysed with portable LIDAR system. Ann Bot 112:1899–1909
Akaike H (1974) A new look at the statistical model identification. IEEE Trans Autom Control 19:716–723
Bonito GM, Coleman DC, Haines BL, Cabrera ML (2003) Can nitrogen budgets explain differences in soil nitrogen mineralization rates of forest stands along an elevation gradient? For Ecol Manag 176:563–574
Campbell IB, Claridge GGC (1987) Antarctica: soils, weathering processes and environment: soils, weathering processes and environment, vol 16. Elsevier, Amsterdam
Chadwick OA, Derry LA, Vitousek PM, Huebert BJ, Hedin LO (1999) Changing sources of nutrients during four million years of ecosystem development. Nature 397:491–497
Chapin FS (1980) The mineral nutrition of wild plants. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 11:233–260
Cross AF, Schlesinger WH (1995) A literature review and evaluation of the Hedley fractionation: applications to the biogeochemical cycle of soil phosphorus in natural ecosystems. Geoderma 64:197–214
Davidson EA, Hart SC, Firestone MK (1992) Internal cycling of nitrate in soils of a mature coniferous forest. Ecology 73:1148–1156
Elser JJ, Bracken ME, Cleland EE, Gruner DS, Harpole WS, Hillebrand H, Ngai JT, Seabloom EW, Shurin JB, Smith JE (2007) Global analysis of nitrogen and phosphorus limitation of primary producers in freshwater, marine, and terrestrial ecosystems. Ecol Lett 10:1135–1142
Frizano J, Johnson AH, Vann DR, Scatena FN (2002) Soil phosphorus fractionation during forest development on landslide scars in the Luquillo Mountains, Puerto Rico. Biotropica 34:17–26
Gardner LR (1990) The role of rock weathering in the phosphorus budget of terrestrial watersheds. Biogeochemistry 11:97–110
Geshi N (2009) Distribution and flow mechanisms of the 7.3 ka Koya pyroclastic flow deposits covering Yakushima Island, Kagoshima Prefecture. J Geog 118:1254–1260 (in Japanese with English abstract)
Japan Forestry Agency (2015). http://www.rinya.maff.go.jp/kyusyu/yakusima_hozen_c/syoukai/pdf/nennbetuuryou.pdf. Accessed 13 Dec 2015
Japan Meteorological Agency (2015). http://weather.time-j.net/Climate/Chart/yakushima, and http://weather.time-j.net/Climate/Chart/onoaida. Accessed 13 Dec 2015
Kira T (1976) Terrestrial ecosystems. Kyoritsu Shuppan, Tokyo (in Japanese)
Kira T (1991) Forest ecosystems of east and southeast Asia in a global perspective. Ecol Res 6:185–200
Kitayama K, Majalap-Lee N, Aiba S (2000) Soil phosphorus fractionation and phosphorus-use efficiencies of tropical rainforests along altitudinal gradients of Mount Kinabalu, Borneo. Oecologia 123:342–349
Kristensen HL, Gundersen P, Gallesen I, Reinds GJ (2004) Throughfall nitrogen deposition has different impacts on soil solution nitrate concentration in European coniferous and deciduous forests. Ecosystems 7:180–192
Lajtha K, Schlesinger WH (1988) The biogeochemistry of phosphorus cycling and phosphorus availability along a desert soil chronosequence. Ecology 69:24–39
Lindo Z, Visser S (2003) Microbial biomass, nitrogen and phosphorus mineralization, and mesofauna in boreal conifer and deciduous forest floors following partial and clear-cut harvesting. Can J For Res 33:1610–1620
Machida H (1999) The stratigraphy, chronology and distribution of distal marker-tephras in and around Japan. Glob Planet Chang 21:71–94
Machida H, Arai F (1978) Akahoya ash-a Holocene widespread tephra erupted from the Kikai Caldera, south Kyusyu, Japan. Quat Res 17:143–163 (in Japanese with English summary)
Marrs RH, Proctor J, Heaney A, Mountford MD (1988) Changes in soil nitrogen-mineralization and nitrification along an altitudinal transect in tropical rain forest in Costa Rica. J Ecol 76:466–482
McKeague JA, Brydon JE, Miles NM (1971) Differentiation of forms of extractable iron and aluminum in soils. Soil Sci Soc Am J 35:33–38
Murphy J, Riley JP (1962) A modified single solution method for the determination of phosphate in natural waters. Anal Chim Acta 27:31–36
Näsholm T, Ekblad A, Nordin A, Giesler R, Högberg M, Högberg P (1998) Boreal forest plants take up organic nitrogen. Nature 392:914–916
Nottingham AT, Turner BL, Chamberlain PM, Stott AW, Tanner EV (2012) Priming and microbial nutrient limitation in lowland tropical forest soils of contrasting fertility. Biogeochemistry 111:219–237
Obara H, Takata Y, Kohyama K, Ohkura T, Maejima Y, Matabayashi S, Kanda T (2016) A new soil map of Japan based on comprehensive soil classification system of Japan first approximation. Rep Natl Inst Agro Environ Sci 37:133–148 (in Japanese with English summary)
Ohsawa M (1984) Vegetation structure and dynamics in the Yaku-shima Wilderness Area, south Japan. In: Environmental Agency of Japan (ed) Nature of Yakushima, Nature Conservation Society of Japan, Tokyo, pp 317–351 (in Japanese with English summary)
Ohsawa M (1993) Latitudinal pattern of mountain vegetation zonation in southern and eastern Asia. J Veg Sci 4:13–18
Ohsawa M (1995) Latitudinal comparison of altitudinal changes in forest structure, leaf-type, and species richness in humid monsoon Asia. Vegetatio 121:3–10
Okada A, Ohsawa M (1984) Structure and regeneration of Cryptomeria japonica forest in the Yaku-shima Wilderness Area, Yaku-shima Island, Kyusyu, Japan. In: Environmental Agency of Japan (ed) Nature of Yakushima, Nature Conservation Society of Japan, Tokyo, pp 437–479 (in Japanese with English summary)
Peltoniemi K, Laiho R, Juottonen H, Kiikkilä O, Mäkiranta P, Minkkinen K, Pennanen T, Penttilä T, Sarjala T, Tuittila ES, Tuomivirta T, Fritze H (2015) Microbial ecology in a future climate: effects of temperature and moisture on microbial communities of two boreal fens. FEMS Microbiol Ecol 91:fiv062
Porder S, Vitousek PM, Chadwick OA, Chamberlain CP, Hilley GE (2007) Uplift, erosion, and phosphorus limitation in terrestrial ecosystems. Ecosystems 10:158–170
Quesada CA, Lloyd J, Schwarz M, Patiño S, Baker TR, Czimczik C, Fyllas NM, Martinelli L, Nardoto GB, Schmerler J, Santos AJB, Hodnet MG, Herrera R, Luizão FJ, Arneth A, Lloyd G, Dezzeo N, Hilke I, Kuhlmann I, Raessler M, Brand WA, Geilmann H, Moraes Filho JO, Carvalho FP, Araujo Filho RN, Chaves JE, Cruz Junior OF, Pimentel TP, Paiva R (2010) Variations in chemical and physical properties of Amazon forest soils in relation to their genesis. Biogeosciences 7:1515–1541
Raich JW, Russell AE, Crews TE, Farrington H, Vitousek PM (1996) Both nitrogen and phosphorus limit plant production on young Hawaiian lava flows. Biogeochemistry 32:1–14
Reich PB, Kloeppel BD, Ellsworth DS, Walters MB (1995) Different photosynthesis-nitrogen relations in deciduous hardwood and evergreen coniferous tree species. Oecologia 104:24–30
Reich PB, Grigal DF, Aber JD, Gower ST (1997) Nitrogen mineralization and productivity in 50 hardwood and conifer stands on diverse soils. Ecology 78:335–347
Richardson SJ, Peltzer DA, Allen RB, McGlone MS (2005) Resorption proficiency along a chronosequence: responses among communities and within species. Ecology 86:20–25
Ross GJ, Wang C (1993) Extractable Al, Fe, Mn, and Si. In: Carter MR (ed) Soil sampling and methods of analysis. Lewis, Boca Raton, pp 239–246
Schlesinger WH, Bruijnzeel LA, Bush MB, Klein EM, Mace KA, Raikes JA, Whittaker RJ (1998) The biogeochemistry of phosphorus after the first century of soil development on Rakata Island, Krakatau, Indonesia. Biogeochemistry 40:37–55
Shimokawa E, Jitousono T (1984) Residence time of soil on slopes and Yaku-sugi (Cryptmeria japonica) in the Yakushima wilderness area, Yaku-shima island. In: Nature of Yaku-shima (ed) The Nature Conservation Bureau of the Environmental Agency of Japan, The Nature Conservation Society of Japan, Tokyo pp 83–100 (in Japanese with English summary)
Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History Global Volcanism Program (2013). http://volcano.si.edu/. Accessed 22 Oct 2015
Takahara H, Matsumoto J (2002) Climatological study of precipitation distribution in Yaku-shima Island, southern Japan. J Geogr 111:726–746
Takahashi K (1979) Estimated equation of potential evaporation from mean annual temperature and mean annual rainfall. Tenki 26:759–762 (in Japanese)
Tiessen H, Moir JO (1993) Characterization of available P by sequential extraction. In: Carter MR (ed) Soil sampling and methods of analysis. Lewis, Boca Raton, pp 75–86
Ui T (1973) Exceptionally far-reaching, thin pyroclastic flow in Southern Kyusyu, Japan. Bull Volcanol Soc Jpn 18:153–168
Vitousek PM (1982) Nutrient cycling and nutrient use efficiency. Am Nat 119:553–572
Vitousek PM, Howarth RW (1991) Nitrogen limitation on land and in the sea: how can it occur? Biogeochemistry 13:87–115
Vitousek PM, Porder S, Houlton BZ, Chadwick OA (2010) Terrestrial phosphorus limitation: mechanisms, implications, and nitrogen-phosphorus interactions. Ecol Appl 20:5–15
Walker TM, Syers JK (1976) The fate of phosphorus during pedogenesis. Geoderma 15:1–19
WRB, IWG (2007) World reference base for soil resources 2006, first update 2007. FAO, Rome
Yasuda Y (1991) Influences of the vast eruption of Kikai Caldera Volcano in the Holocene vegetational history of Yakushima, southern Kyusyu, Japan. Jpn Rev 2:145–160
Acknowledgments
We are grateful to Dr. Yoshimi Sawada and Yuki Nomura for their kind assistance in the fieldwork. Soils were collected under the research permit of 1312091and 1312092 from the Ministry of the Environment, Japan and 4–1040 from the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Japan.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
About this article
Cite this article
Mukai, M., Aiba, Si. & Kitayama, K. Soil-nutrient availability and the nutrient-use efficiencies of forests along an altitudinal gradient on Yakushima Island, Japan. Ecol Res 31, 719–730 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11284-016-1381-8
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11284-016-1381-8