Abstract
Effects of an invasion of an alien shrub species, Leucaena leucocephala, were investigated on subsequent establishment of a native mid-successional wooden species, Schima mertensiana at early-successional stages after disturbance in a subtropical oceanic island, Chichijima in Japan. Changes in basal areas, densities and size distribution of forests at a site dominated by L leucocephala were compared with those at a site dominated by native shrub species, Trema orientalis at early-successional stages. Effects of L. leucocephala on germination of seeds and growth of seedlings of S. mertensiana were quantified at the sites. There were few recruited seedlings of S. mertensiana and they did not grow at the site dominated by L. leucocephala. On the other hand, there were a few recruited seedlings within a 1 m × 1 m area and they positively grew at the site dominated by T. orientalis. Germination rates of seeds and growth rates of seedlings of S. mertensiana at the site dominated by L. leucocephala were lower than those at the site dominated by T. orientalis. Germination of seeds and growth of seedlings of S. mertensiana were inhibited by L. leucocephala at the disturbed site, which potentially changed an early successional pathway of the plant community.
Reprinted from Hata K, Suzuki J, Kachi N (2007) Tropics 16:283–290, with permission of The Japan Society of Tropical Ecology.
Received 31st Oct. 2006
Accepted 25th Dec. 2006
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Received 31st Oct. 2006 Accepted 25th Dec. 2006
Acknowledgments
The Environmental Agency and the Department of National Forests in the Ogasawara Islands allowed us to conduct this study at Chichijima Island. The study plots were established by Takaya Yasui, the president of Ogasawara Wildlife Research Society, who kindly gave us to use these plots. We are grateful to Keiichiro Yoshida for valuable discussion of the manuscript. Fuyuo Nobushima and Yoshikazu Shimizu kindly provided useful information about the disturbance at our study sites. Takaya Yasui, Fumiko Yumura, Atsushi Tanaka, Hajime Tomimatsu, Yuriko Ichikawa, Ryoji Nakamura, Akihiro Nojima, Kenta Watanabe and Hoho Yamamoto helped us in the field research. Elizabeth Zielinska edited the English of the manuscript. Two anonymous referees made numerous valuable comments that improved our original manuscript. The study was financially supported by a Grand-in-Aid for Scientific Research of Japan Society for Science Promotion and the Fund for the Global Environmental Research Program of the Ministry of the Environment of Japan (Grand No. F-51).
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Hata, K., Suzuki, JI., Kachi, N. (2010). Effects of an alien shrub species, Leucaena leucocephala, on establishment of native mid-successional tree species after disturbance in the national park in the Chichijima island, a subtropical oceanic island. In: Kawakami, K., Okochi, I. (eds) Restoring the Oceanic Island Ecosystem. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-53859-2_16
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-53859-2_16
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