Abstract
Summary In 1965, an experiment was begun on the Isle of Rum, in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The experiment aimed to determine the limiting effect of soil nutrient deficiency on the re-colonisation of vegetation on the sparsely vegetated slopes of the island's ultrabasic mountain ridges. A fertilisation regime was implemented between 1965 and 1968. In 1996, sampling of a newly established ‘untreated’ plot revealed that, on untreated areas, the soils and vegetation had remained largely unchanged since 1965. Resampling of the fertilised plot however, demonstrated the development of a more organic rich surface soil with a significantly reduced soil acidity and increased soil cation, extractable phosphorus and total nitrogen contents. Most of these changes could be directly attributed to the fertiliser applications. On the fertilised plot, vegetation cover had increased from 5–10% in 1965 to 100% in 1996 and a shift from patchy herb-rich Calluna heath to closed speciesrich Festuca-Agrostis grassland had taken place. A range of acidophile species and bare soil bryophytes had been lost, having been replaced predominantly by grasses and mosses. The importance of nutrient availability as the principal limiting factor on vegetation cover in the study area has been uneqivocally established.
Published Version
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