ALDRICH-WOLFE, LAURA
Section of Ecology & Systematics, Corson Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
This study examines the effect of initial soil environment on survival and growth of the native tree species Terminalia amazonia (Combretaceae) in forest fragments and adjacent pastures of Coto Brus, Costa Rica. In July-August 1997, seedlings and cuttings of T. amazonia were inoculated with pasture or forest soil and transplanted into pasture or forest at three pairs of pasture-forest sites. Survivorship, growth, leaf nutrients, and root infection by mycorrhizal and pathogenic fungi are being monitored for two years. Differences in light and soil nutrient availability, air and soil humidity, and temperature are also being characterized. During the first six months of the study, survivorship of both seedlings and cuttings was higher in pasture than in adjacent forest sites. While survivorship and growth of cuttings do not appear to vary between soil inoculant types, seedling survivorship and growth are higher for seedlings inoculated with forest soil than for seedlings inoculated with pasture soil. Preliminary results suggest the observed differences in survivorship and growth are related not only to differences in nutrient availability between forest and pasture soils, but also to differences between the two soils in fungi associated with T. amazonia roots.