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Seedlings of six Alaskan taiga tree species and one tall shrub were grown in sand at three phosphate levels. There was a positive correlation between the growth rate of a species at the high-phosphate level in sand culture and its productivity in the natural environment. Poplar (Populusbalsamifera L.), which had highest growth rate under high phosphate, was most sensitive to reduction in phosphate supply, followed by birch (Betulapapyrifera (Reg.) Fern, and Raup) and aspen (Populustremuloides Michx.), whereas growth of conifers (larch (Larixlaricina (Du Roi) K. Koch), white spruce (Piceaglauca (Moench) Voss), and black spruce (P. mariana (Mill.) B.S.P.)) from late successional sites was slow and unaffected by phosphate supply. Similarly, when birch and white spruce seedlings were transplanted into natural forest stands, the maximum growth rate of birch was greater than that of white spruce, but birch growth was curtailed more by unfavorable conditions than was that of white spruce. We conclude that a slow growth rate reduces nutrient requirement and therefore minimizes nutrient stress on infertile sites, whereas a rapid growth enables nutrient-demanding species to dominate fertile sites.
Chapin et al. (Thu,) studied this question.