Maintenance of an abrupt boundary between needle-leaved and broad-leaved forests in a wetland near coast

Abstract

There is an abrupt boundary between two well-developed wetland forests, a stand consisting of a broad-leaved, nitrogen-fixer Alnus japonica and a stand of the needle-leaved Picea glehnii Masters, in eastern Hokkaido, Japan. To clarify maintenance mechanisms, we studied the forest profile, water level, groundwater and precipitation chemistry, seedling establishment patterns in relation to microhabitats, and seed migration. The profile of groundwater level insufficiently explained the abrupt boundary formation, while the groundwater chemistry differed significantly between the two forests; i.e., EC, Na+, K+, Mg2+, Ca2+ and Cl− were higher in P. glehnii forest and pH was lower. Precipitation in P. glehnii forest contained richer Na+, Ca2+ and Cl−, indicating that the differences in surface-water chemistry were mostly derived from precipitation. Solar radiation was less than 2.2 MJ·m−2·d−1 on P. glehnii forest in late June, while that was patchily distributed in A. japonica forest with a range from 1.0 to 3.7 MJ·m−2·d−1. Moss cover on the soil surface, most of which were made of Sphagnum spp., was 60% in P. glehnii forest, but was 10% in A. japonica forest. Surface water chemistry represented by pH was considered to determine the development of Sphagnum moss. About 70% of P. glehnii seedlings < 1.3 m in height established on moss cover. Seed-sowing experiments suggested that seed germination and seedling survival for both species were significantly higher in P. glehnii forest. Therefore, the regeneration of P. glehnii in A. japonica forest was negligible, owing to the paucity of favorable microhabitats and low seedling establishment. A. japonica regenerated only by resprouting, and the seedlings were few in both forests. In addition, A. japonica seed migration into the P. glehnii forests was greatly restricted, and low solar radiation in the P. glehnii forest contributed to low seedling survival. Based on those results, we concluded that Picea glehnii and Alnus japonica could develop distinct and selfish environments being unsuitable for the other species and inhibit natural afforestation of another species each other by excluding invasion.