Hurricane damage to a Hawaiian forest: Nutrient supply rate affects resistance and resilience

Hurricane Iniki damaged a forest in which we had previously studied nutrien t limitation to productivity. We had measured the response of aboveground n et primary productivity (ANPP) to fertilizer applications and had found pho sphorus to be limiting. Reductions of leaf area index (LAI) after the hurri cane's passage ranged from 3% to 59%, were correlated with prehurricane LAI , and were greatest in P-amended treatments (SP). LAI recovered to near pre hurricane levels by 9 mo after passage, and rates of recovery were unaffect ed by treatment. Mortality of fine roots ranged from 35 to 48% following th e hurricane and recovered in 2 yr. Stem damage was largely branch removal, but some stems were partially uprooted or decapitated. Large trees were dam aged with greater frequency than small trees, and severity of damage increa sed in +P treatments. Fine litterfall caused by the storm was 1.4 times the annual input, and nutrient transfers to the forest floor approximated that of a typical year. Stem diameter increment and aboveground net primary pro ductivity (ANPP) declined but returned to prehurricane values 2 yr later in SP treatments while remaining low in -P treatments (i.e., those without P supplementation). Rates of recovery to prehurricane stem growth and ANPP were greater in +P t reatments and were accompanied by a much greater ANPP per unit leaf area (E ). The results support hypotheses that ecosystem resistance and resilience are inversely related and that resistance decreases and resilience increase s as supply rates of limiting resources increase, However, they also sugges t that structural and functional components of resistance and resilience sh ould be considered separately.