Dieter Mueller-Dombois

• PhD 1960 UBC under Prof. V.J. Krajina
• Emeritus Professor at University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa

This paper addresses the question of transition states in the Hawaiian rainforest ecosystem with emphasis on their initial developments. Born among volcanoes in the north central Pacific about 4 million years ago, the Hawaiian rainforest became assembled from spores of algae, fungi, lichens, bryophytes, ferns and from seeds of about 275 flowering p...

Do long-term observations in permanent plots confirm the conceptual model of Metrosideros polymorpha cohort dynamics as postulated in 1987? Do regeneration patterns occur independently of substrate age, i.e. of direct volcanic disturbance impact? The windward mountain slopes of the younger Mauna Loa and the older Mauna Kea volcanoes (island of Hawa...

Questions (a) Have Metrosideros polymorpha trees become re‐established in Hawaiian forests previously impacted by canopy dieback in the 1970s? (b) Has canopy dieback expanded since the 1970s? (c) Can spatial patterns from this dieback be correlated with habitat factors to model future dieback in this area? Study Site An 83,603 ha study area on the...

Successional processes ultimately determine and define carbon accumulations in forested ecosystems. Although primary succession on wholly new substrate occurs across the globe, secondary succession, often following storm events or anthropogenic disturbance, is more common and is capable of globally significant accumulations of carbon (C) at a time...

’Ohi‘a (Metrosideros polymorpha) is the most abundant tree species in the native wet and mesic forests throughout the main Hawaiian Islands. In the late 1960s and early 1970s large areas on the wet, eastern side of Hawai‘i island appeared to have extensive defoliation and death of the ’ohi‘a trees. The dieback on Hawai‘i island extended to approxim...

Questions Have vascular plants shifted in elevation along a tropical mountain gradient on Mauna Loa, Hawai'i over the past 40 yr? If so, do native and non‐native species differ in their shifts of mean elevation range, upper elevation limit or lower elevation limit? Location Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park, southeast slope of Mauna Loa, Hawai'i. M...

This paper is a short version of a recently published book ‘Ōhi’a Lehua Rainforest, which resulted from studies of vegetation at multiple scales in space and time. The objective of this short version is not only to demonstrate some of these changes in scale, but also to show that different perspectives through scale changes were needed for synthesi...

In this book the authors of four generations (Dieter Mueller-Dombois, James D. Jacobi, Hans Juergen Boehmer, Jonathan P. Price) give an overview of five decades of intensive research carried out on the native Metrosideros polymorpha rainforests in Hawai‘i. Central in this book is the succession dynamics, specifically the processes through which the...

A brief history of the probably climate-induced forest decline called "Ohia dieback" (Big Island, Hawaii) in the 1970s and 80s, and its perception as reported from newspaper articles, memoranda, and symposia in the State of Hawaii.

Born among volcanoes in the north central Pacific about 4 million years ago, the Hawaiian rainforest became assembled from spores of algae, fungi, lichens, bryophytes, ferns and from seeds of about 275 flowering plants that over the millenia evolved into ca. 1000 endemic species. Outstanding among the forest builders were the tree ferns ( Cibotium...

This is a chapter of the book "The Pacific Islands - Environment and Society" (edited by Moshe Rapaport). Prior to European contact, virtually all Pacific Islanders lived in rural locations, dependent on the natural environment for basic subsistence needs. This dependence inevitably resulted in largescale ecosystem conversion. Today, the pace and i...

The Pacific-Asia Biodiversity Transect (PABITRA) is a network of the Ecosystem Division in the Pacific Science Association's Task Force on Biodiversity. The PABITRA project seeks to develop a network of ocean-tomountain transects on islands across the Pacific to test hypotheses about biodiversity and promote sustainable use of island ecosystems und...

Because of their isolation and geographical position, and in contrast to the multi-species tree canopies of tropical rain forests on the continents, the Hawaiian Islands have only two native dominant canopy species in their rain forests, Acacia koa and Metrosideros polymorpha. The wetter forest ecosystems are dominated by only the latter. In 1905,...

Indigenous forests in remote islands are generally impoverished of secondary successional tree species. After canopy disturbances, the same indigenous tree species seem to resume dominance by a process known as “autosuccession” or “direct succession.” Primary forest tree species are mostly colonizer species. Mature island forests are difficult to c...

This chapter is an extension of the Relevé Method described in Chapter 3 (p. 19-29) in this PABITRA Methods Book. Here we try to explain in some detail how vegetation samples (relevés) can be processed by multivariate analysis techniques. Multivariate analysis as we use it involves the simultaneous comparison of attributes in a series of related u...

At the 21st Pacific Science Congress in Okinawa (June 2007), we celebrated the first ten years of PABITRA, the Pacific-Asia Biodiversity Transect Network. PABITRA is a grass roots effort of a group of conservation scientists that presents a significant departure from earlier efforts in ecology and conservation to fulfill the mission of the Pacific...

The acronym PABITRA stands for Pacific-Asia Biodiversity Transect, a network of island sites and conservation professionals collaborating throughout the Pacific-Asia region. An ideal PABITRA site is a broad landscape transect from sea to summit. Such a landscape is Kahana Valley on Windward O‘ahu. Kahana Valley served during prior centuries as an a...

In the early 1970´s, about 50,000 hectare of Metrosideros polymorpha (Myrtaceae) dominated rain forest on the island of Hawaii were affected by a decline of the canopy. Declining forests were located on the windward side of the volcanic mountains Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea between 700 and 1,500 m elevation. In 1976, 25 permanent plots were established...

The tropical realm of the Pacific contains many islands with closely similar (analogous) environmental settings. Due to the `filter effect' of the ocean, these are occupied by historically different species assemblages. This results in a unique biogeographic complexity not found in any of the continental tropical regions. The paper presents a hiera...

This article explains first the concepts of biogeography as a science concerned with organismic patterns of distribution and abundance on our planet. Island biogeography specifically deals with such patterns in relation to isolated land fragments. The chapter then introduces a botanical and ecological viewpoint by the subject matter of geobotany in...

Biological invasion and fire-caused disturbances are both natural processes in tropical–subtropical ecosystems. The 2 processes are often interrelated in a complex manner. This will be discussed in relation to the major zonal and intra-zonal tropical biomes, which adjoin each other along climatic and edaphic gradients. Atmospheric change and weathe...

Processes of biological invasion, establishment and succession of tropical rain forest vegetation in the biogeographically remote insular environments of Hawaii are reviewed with reference to similarities in the ecology of post-mining landscapes. New cinder cones in volcanically active areas are completely abiotic deposits like mine spoils. Coloniz...

Transpiration, leaf characteristics and forest structure in Metrosideros polymorpha Gaud. stands growing in East Maui, Hawaii were investigated to assess physiological limitations associated with flooding as a mechanism of reduced canopy leaf area in waterlogged sites. Whole-tree sap flow, stomatal conductance, microclimate, soil oxidation-reductio...

Vegetation succession in the Hawaiian Islands is quite predictable in its montane rain forest biome up to an early stage of soil development. In lowland and seasonal environments, and in more advanced stages of soil development in rain forest environments, the influx of alien species often produces changing patterns and processes. An example is the...

Metrosideros polymorpha (Myrtaceae) is the dominant canopy tree in many Hawaiian lowland and montane rain forests. It is a shade-intolerant species that persists throughout forest succession. Stands usually regenerate following synchronized dieback of the canopy cohort. Like most tropical evergreen trees, Metrosideros does not form growth rings, ma...

The theory of island biogeography of MacArthur and Wilson (1967) represents a first attempt at developing a unifying concept for biodiversity research across islands and fragmented biomes. It uses two physical parameters, distance (or isolation) and size of area to define species equilibria. This contribution expands on the theory by adding a third...

An earlier study suggested that soils on the windward slope of Mount Haleakala are excessively waterlogged at low altitudes but become better drained upslope. We analyzed altitudinal changes in soil N turn over, vegetation mass, and foliar chemical composition of the dominant canopy species, Metrosideros polymorpha (Myrtaceae), on this slope. The b...

Metrosideros polymorpha, a dominant tree species in Hawaiian ecosystems, occupies a wide range of habitats. Complementary field and common-garden studies of M. polymorpha populations were conducted across an altitudinal gradient at two different substrate ages to ascertain if the large phenotypic variation of this species is determined by genetic d...

This book begins with an introductory chapter, with consideration of the importance of geography, geology, floristic relationships and climate and vegetation patterns. Nine chapters follow, dealing with specific geographical areas: western Melanesia; eastern Melanesia; the subtropical islands in the New Zealand region; Micronesia; central Polynesia...

Micronesia covers a large section of the earth’s surface, most of it water (Fig. 5.1). There are approximately 161 islands, atolls, or closely associated groups of islands, but they are so small that altogether they constitute less than 2600 km2 of land (Douglas 1969). Stretching over 27° of latitude and 44° of longitude, Micronesia shows, as would...

Central Polynesia extends roughly from 17° N to 12° S of the equator and from the date line (the 180° meridian) to 150° W longitude. This vast central part of the Pacific lies south of the Hawaiian chain, east and southeast of Micronesia, northeast of Eastern Melanesia, and northwest of the Society Islands (see index map, Fig. 1.2, p. 9).

The Hawaiian Islands are the most isolated archipelago in the world. They are 3,765 km from the nearest continental land mass, North America, and 3,350 km from the Marquesas, the nearest archipelago of high islands. At least partly as the result of this isolation, the native flora of flowering plants of these islands is 96% endemic (St. John 1973;...

South of Eastern Melanesia, in the subtropical realm of the New Zealand region, are three widely dispersed island groups, Lord Howe, Norfolk, and the Kermadec Islands (Fig. 4.1). The islands of Lord Howe and Norfolk, which are 1350 km and 960 km, respectively, northwest of New Zealand’s North Island, are Pliocene, volcanic islands perched on submar...

The vegetation survey of the nine island regions outlined in this book cannot give a quick answer to the question, “What is the future of island vegetation?” As pointed out repeatedly in this book, vegetation is a hierarchical phenomenon.

The Eastern Melanesian island region, shown in detail on section map 2 (Fig. 3.1), lies to the southeast of Western Melanesia. The Eastern Melanesian islands extend from 10° S latitude to the Tropic of Capricorn. From east to west they lie in the area defined roughly by the 180° meridian, which cuts through the Fijian island of Taveuni, and 163° E...

Western Polynesia, as treated here, comprises the oceanic archipelagoes principally of high islands lying east of the large islands of Eastern Melanesia (see section map 6 on index map Fig. 1.2, p. 9). They are floristically most closely related to Fiji, Vanuatu, and New Caledonia but have notably more impoverished floras than those of these Melane...

Section map 1 (Fig. 2.1) shows the island region of Western Melanesia, which, for reasons of its biogeographic unity, Udvardy (1975) calls the Papuan realm (with New Guinea). For our purposes it includes two major archipelagoes north west of New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago and the Solomon Islands.

Eastern Polynesia, comprising five great archipelagoes, the Cook, Austral, Society, Tuamotu (including the Gambier and Pitcairn groups), and Marquesas Islands, plus remote Easter and Sala y Gomez Islands, stretches over a vast range of tropical and subtropical ocean (Fig. 8.1; for Cook Islands, see Fig. 7.1, p. 342). In size, the islands range from...

There are four small oceanic archipelagoes and three isolated islands in the Eastem Pacific off the American coast. These scarcely form a natural geographic region, but they have certain aspects in common. We divide them into a northern and southern subregion. Included in the northern subregion are the Revillagigedo Islands; the three isolated isla...

This book is concerned with the terrestrial vegetation of the Pacific islands in the tropical realm. Aquatic vegetation will only be treated marginally where appropriate. As in the other vegetation monographs of this World Series, our vegetation treatment relates to a very large area: the tropical Pacific Ocean forms the matrix surrounding numerous...

1 We chose seven sites across the Hawaiian archipelago differing only in substrate age (400 years to 4.1 x 10(6) years). All sites were at 1200m elevation, and mean annual rainfall was greater than or equal to 4000 mm, This chronosequence reflects long-term ecosystem development from basaltic lava parent material under a humid climatic regime. 2 Li...

Glabrous and pubescent foliar phenotypes of Metrosideros polymorpha occur sympatrically on Mauna Loa, Hawaii. This coexistence has been suggested, by earlier workers, to represent distinct genotypes, each of which produces progenies with a homogenous foliar phenotype. We re-examined the question of to what extent siblings from the same parents vari...

. Spatial distribution patterns of alien plant species were compared with those of native species on a windward slope of Mt. Haleakala (3055 m). Oceanic islands are considered susceptible to biological invasion, and this study numerically tested this circumstantial evidence with the following questions: Are all habitats equally susceptible; and, do...

We tested the Walker and Syers (1976) conceptual model of soil development and its ecological implications by analyzing changes in soil P, vegetation, and other ecosystem properties on a soil chronosequence with six sites ranging in age from 300 yr to 4.1 X 10(6) yr. Climate, dominant vegetation, slope, and parent material of all of the sites were...

The mass of fine litterfall and nutrient circulation through litterfall were determined in four Melrosideros polymorpha/Cibotium spp.-dominated rainforests that differed in substrate age, parent material texture and annual precipitation on Kilauea and Mauna Loa volcanoes on the island of Hawaii. Three of the sites had rates of litterfall of 5.2 Mg...

The primary‐successional sere of a Hawaiian montane rain forest was inferred from an age sequence of eight closely located ‘a’ ā flows (clinker type lava); 8, 50, 140, ca. 300, ca. 400, ca. 1400, ca. 3000 and ca. 9000 yr, on a windward slope of Mauna Loa, Hawaii. All study sites (0.2 ha each) were at 1120 — 1250 m a.s.l. with 4000 mm mean annual ra...

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s there was a rapid decline and canopy dieback in the Metrosideros polymorpha dominated rain forest of Hawai'i. An analysis of air photo sets from 1954, 1965, and 1972, covering the windward slopes of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, gave support for an alien disease hypothesis. A total demise of the native forest was predicted...

The development of the Hawaiian montane rainforest was investigated along a 4.1-million-year soil age gradient at 1200 m elevation under two levels of precipitation, the mesic (c. 2500 mm annual rainfall) vs. wet (>4000 mm) age gradient. Earlier analyses suggested that soil fertility and foliar nutrient concentrations of common canopy species chang...

The role of disturbance in natural communities and ecosystems has received a great deal of attention in the literature. For recent reviews see Cairns (1980); Burgess and Sharpe (1981); West et al. (1981); Pickett and White (1985); Remmert (1991); and Goldammer (1992). The concept of succession is based on disturbance as the initiating cause of a ch...

The most prevalent endemic Hawaiian rainforest tree, metrosideros polymorpha, demonstrates ecological release by its wide ecological amplitude, which is reflected in a similarly wide genetic variation among its populations. While the species has occupied an unusually broad spectrum of soil substrates in the Hawaiian rainforest biome, its perpetuati...

Floristic composition, structure, and distributional patterns of plant communities were studied along a transect between 350 m and the summit (3055 m) on a windward slope of Mt. Haleakala, Maui, Hawaii. A working hypothesis tested was that plant communities would be altitudinally excessively wide ranging in distribution due to lessened interspecifi...

Climate and soils were studied to classify habitat types along an altitudinal transect between 350 m asl and the summit on a windward slope of Haleakala (3055 m) There are two relatively sharp turnover points in atmospheric moisture regime: the lower and upper cloud limits. Although they fluctuate along the slope, the lower and upper limits occur,...

Forest damage, forest decline, forest dieback - unrelated to biotic agents - is occurring in the Atlantic and Pacific regions. In Europe and Eastern North America this serious problem is considered to be, at least in some part, related to industrial air pollutants and their atmospheric conversion products, such as acid rain or ozone. Forest decline...

The level and distribution of genetic variability within and among Metrosideros polymorpha populations along altitudinal gradients on the island of Maui, Hawaii were examined to assess the extent of genetic differentiation. Sixteen loci encoding 11 enzymes were scored in 17 populations along the NE wet slope of Mt. Haleakala and Kipahulu Valley in...

The purpose of this study was to compare forest structure on a series of geologically similar larva flows that differed in age, but not in climate or in accessibility to pioneer plants. The data were then used to infer the patterns of forest development over 3000 yr on a single flow. Stand structure was measured for populations of Metrosideros poly...

During the last decade, forest decline in the Pacific region has received similar attention in the scientific literature (Old et al. 1981; Mueller-Dombois and McQueen 1983; Heatwole and Lowman 1986; White 1986; Ash 1988; Lawesson 1988) as the forest decline in Europe and eastern North America (Smith 1981; McLaughlin 1985; Ulrich 1986; Manion 1988;...

In the mid-1960s, stand segments of the native Metrosideros polymorpha-’öhi’a lehua)-dominated rain forest were observed to decline (Mueller-Dombois and Krajina 1968). Numerous trees were dying on the windward slopes of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa at elevations between 600 and 1700 m. An aerial photo analysis of an 80 000 ha sample area covering both m...