Carbon Cycling in Organic Material Originating from Monospecific Overstories in Hawaiian Lowland Wet Forests
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- High levels of invasion and disturbance in the lowland wet forests of Hawaii have led to a need for novel management strategies for the conservation of biodiversity, carbon (C) storage, and other ecosystem services. The hybrid ecosystems approach represents a method by which species traits can be used in the creation of ecosystems which optimize desirable characteristics. In the lowland wet forests of Hawaii, C storage is one of these important traits, given the continual increase in atmospheric carbon and global environmental change. In this study we examined soil humus decomposition and leaf litter decomposition. We asked whether patterns seen in rates of litter turnover across nine species currently present in the lowland wet forests of the big island of Hawaii would be present in the turnover of humus originating from single species stands. We used a soda-lime absorption measurement assay to quantify soil decomposition over a period of four weeks and performed a four-month common site litter decomposition experiment. Total C efflux values for the full four week period ranged from 13.4 – 16.9 g C/kg soil, with little difference among species. Litter decomposition had greater variability. The fastest decomposition occurred in Thespesia populnea (milo) litter, with 17.6% of mass left at the end of the decomposition period, while Persea americana (avocado) litter was the slowest to decompose and maintained 78.6% of its mass. Our results suggest a decoupling of litter and humus decomposition rates. These findings provide additional understanding on the extent to which hybrid ecosystems may be able to influence C storage and turnover through species treatments.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Date created | June 15, 2014 |
Creators/Contributors
| Author | Stites-Clayton, Cole | |
|---|---|---|
| Degree granting institution | Stanford University, Department of Biology, 2014 | |
| Primary advisor | Vitousek, Peter | |
| Advisor | Fendorf, Scott |
Subjects
| Subject | biology |
|---|---|
| Subject | ecology |
| Subject | hawaii |
| Subject | invasive species |
| Subject | carbon |
| Subject | soil |
| Subject | humus |
| Subject | litter |
| Subject | hybrid ecosystems |
| Subject | Stanford University Department of Biology |
| Genre | Thesis |
Bibliographic information
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- User agrees that, where applicable, content will not be used to identify or to otherwise infringe the privacy or confidentiality rights of individuals. Content distributed via the Stanford Digital Repository may be subject to additional license and use restrictions applied by the depositor.
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-SA).
Preferred citation
- Preferred Citation
- Stites-Clayton, Cole. (2014). Carbon Cycling in Organic Material Originating from Monospecific Overstories in Hawaiian Lowland Wet Forests. Stanford Digital Repository. Available at: http://purl.stanford.edu/zh432cy8468
Collection
Undergraduate Theses, Department of Biology, 2013-2014
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- cstites@stanford.edu
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