Contributions of jellyfish fertilizer to survival and growth of seedlings planted in a recently burned forest, Republic of Korea

Abstract

In April 2012, a forest fire burned a large proportion of the understory and overstory vegetation on Mount Jubong, which is located in Hoengseonggun, Gangwondo in the Republic of Korea. In this forest, we examined the contributions of jellyfish fertilizer on survival and growth of Pinus thunbergii and Quercus palustris seedlings. The results showed that jellyfish fertilizer contributed high concentrations of the available moisture and nutrients to soil conditions. Jellyfish fertilizer contains high concentration of organic matter, which plays an important role for improving the physical structure of the soil. This is likely to increase the soil moisture and supply nutrients, which could promote survival and growth of seedlings. However, the effect of jellyfish fertilizer on survival of Q. palustris seedlings varied with its application rate whereas it of P. thunbergii seedlings increased with application rate of jellyfish fertilizer. This should be because that excessive salt concentration, which can be caused by high application of jellyfish fertilizer, affect adversely the growing plants and/or root distribution. Under the considering survival rates of both seedlings, the results showed that the optimum application rates of jellyfish fertilizer for enhancement of seedling growths were 50 g/tree for P. thunbergii seedlings and 30 g/tree for Q. palustris seedlings, respectively. This reflects that the jellyfish fertilizer promotes soil amendment, and has a positive contributor to the growths of both shoot and root parts, which is obviously required to secure competitiveness in an early growth stage. Although this study was spatially and temporarily limited, the findings are likely to provide important information regarding the establishment of forest restoration strategies in the burned and degraded areas where the possibilities of human and property damages are high.