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Soil factors predict initial plant colonization on Puerto Rican landslides

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Abstract

Tropical storms are the principal cause of landslides in montane rainforests, such as the Luquillo Experimental Forest (LEF) of Puerto Rico. A storm in 2003 caused 30 new landslides in the LEF that we used to examine prior hypotheses that slope stability and organically enriched soils are prerequisites for plant colonization. We measured slope stability and litterfall 8–13 months following landslide formation. At 13 months we also measured microtopography, soil characteristics (organic matter, particle size, total nitrogen, and water-holding capacity), elevation, distance to forest edge, and canopy cover. When all landslides were analyzed together, plant biomass and cover at 13 months were not correlated with slope stability or organic matter, but instead with soil nitrogen, clay content, water-holding capacity, and elevation. When landslides were analyzed after separating by soil type, the distance from the forest edge and slope stability combined with soil factors (excluding organic matter) predicted initial plant colonization on volcaniclastic landslides, whereas on diorite landslides none of the measured characteristics affected initial plant colonization. The life forms of the colonizing plants reflected these differences in landslide soils, as trees, shrubs, and vines colonized high clay, high nitrogen, and low elevation volcaniclastic soils, whereas herbs were the dominant colonists on high sand, low nitrogen, and high elevation diorite soils. Therefore, the predictability of the initial stage of plant succession on LEF landslides is primarily determined by soil characteristics that are related to soil type.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Oscar Abelleira, Maria Aponte, and Fred Landau for their field assistance, and Lauren Kaminski for soil analyses. We also thank Peter Bellingham, Carla Restrepo, and three anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments that improved the manuscript. This research was funded by cooperative grants from the U.S. National Science Foundation, University of Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Forest Service, supporting the Luquillo Experimental Forest Long-term Ecological Research Program (NSF Grants: BSR-8811902, DEB-9411973, DEB-008538, DEB-0218039).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Tropical Ecosystem Studies, University of Puerto Rico, P.O. Box 21910, San Juan, PR, 00931, USA

    Aaron B. Shiels

  2. Department of Botany, University of Hawaii at Manoa, 3190 Maile Way, Honolulu, HI, 96822, USA

    Aaron B. Shiels & Laura Weiss

  3. Department of Forestry and Watershed Management, Humboldt State University, 1 Harpst Street, Arcata, CA, 95521, USA

    Christine A. West

  4. School of Life Sciences, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 4505 South Maryland Parkway, Las Vegas, NV, 89154-4004, USA

    Christine A. West, Laura Weiss & Lawrence R. Walker

  5. Department of Biology, William Jewell College, 500 College Hill, WJC Box 1040, Liberty, MO, 64068-1896, USA

    Paul D. Klawinski

Authors
  1. Aaron B. Shiels
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  2. Christine A. West
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  3. Laura Weiss
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  4. Paul D. Klawinski
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  5. Lawrence R. Walker
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Aaron B. Shiels.

Appendix

Appendix

Appendix 1 Site characteristics for 30 landslides in the Luquillo Experimental Forest, northeastern Puerto Rico (V = volcaniclastic, D = diorite)
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Shiels, A.B., West, C.A., Weiss, L. et al. Soil factors predict initial plant colonization on Puerto Rican landslides. Plant Ecol 195, 165–178 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-007-9313-x

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