Aboveground biomass and soil nutrient pools of a Scalesia pedunculata montane forest on Santa Cruz, Galapagos

We estimated the live aboveground biomass (AGB) and soil nutrient pools of the Scalesia pedunculata monodominant tropical montane forest at 600 m abov e sea level on Santa Cruz, Galapagos, an isolated oceanic island. The estim ated AGE was 60.4 Mg ha(-1), which was considerably lower than that of othe r montane forests of similar climates elsewhere. Nutrient pools were ample for inorganic N, soluble P, and exchangeable cations. We suggest that the l ow AGB, in spite of the ample nutrients, is related to the absence of tall- statured climax species, that have high demands for nutrients (particularly N) to fix C, due to the isolation.