Primary Succession on a Hawaiian Dryland Chronosequence

Primary Succession on a Hawaiian Dryland Chronosequence

We used measurements from airborne imaging spectroscopy and LiDAR to quantify the biophysical structure and composition of vegetation on a dryland substrate age gradient in Hawaii. Both vertical stature and species composition changed during primary succession, and reveal a progressive increase in vertical stature on younger substrates followed by a collapse on Pleistocene-aged flows. Tall-stat...

Multiple sources of lead in soils from a Hawaiian chronosequence

We report lead isotopic ratios and concentrations from a basaltic soil chronosequence in Hawaii. Substrate ages at the sites range from 300 years to 4.1 million years. All soils show a net addition of Pb above the contributions made by basaltic weathering, indicating that atmospheric deposition of natural or pollutant sources is important across the sequence. Isotopic ratios from the chronoseqe...

Plant spatial patterns and functional traits interaction along a chronosequence of primary succession: evidence from a central Alpine glacier foreland

Stable isotopes of Hawaiian spiders reflect substrate properties along a chronosequence

The Hawaiian Islands offer a unique opportunity to test how changes in the properties of an isolated ecosystem are propagated through the organisms that occur within that ecosystem. The age-structured arrangement of volcanic-derived substrates follows a regular progression over space and, by inference, time. We test how well documented successional changes in soil chemistry and associated veget...

Primary succession in Mount Pinatubo

Vegetation structure on the east flank of Mount Pinatubo was investigated to determine the inventory of species at 15 y post-eruption, then to ascertain environmental variables that have influenced the early patterns of primary succession. Unconstrained and constrained ordination methods were used to determine the influence of spatial, elevation, and substrate patterns on vegetation. Vegetation...