Grass Biomass in experimental plots, Hakalau Forest, Hawaii, 2015

Publication Date

2020-11-12

Time Period

2015-07-15

Yelenik, S.G., Paxton, E., and Rose, E.T., 2020, Avian diet and vegetation data for Hakalau Forest, Hawaii, 2012-2016: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P9BKTXB3.

Type: Related Primary Publication

In an attempt to jump-start succession in former cattle pastures, managers in Hawaii have planted native Acacia koa (koa) trees to create avian habitat, increase seed rain, reduce exotic grass biomass, and facilitate recruitment of a diverse understory. Restoration forests In Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge, however, have not undergone secondary succession towards native dominated forest, instead maintaining a koa overstory with an exotic pasture grass understory. The objective of this study was to contrast the roles of top-down and bottom-up processes that influence the capacity for natural understory regeneration. These included feedbacks between bird-mediated seed rain and fruiting understory (top-down), as well as links between understory and microhabitats for native seed germination (bottom-up). The overarching goal was to find those constraints that are most important to address to help facilitate degraded forest sites naturally regenerating into intact forest sites. While most of this study was design around sampling natural patterns, in this particular experiment we focused on manipulating grass biomass and seed availability to specifically ask how these two factors relate to each other.

• Pacific Island Ecosystems Research Center

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