Lizard Island Soil Project

Principal Investigators
Dr. Josh Leffler, Utah State University
Dr. Ursula Shepherd, University of New Mexico
Dr. Lisa Ellis, University of New Mexico

Background
Lizard Island, Queensland, Australia is a granite island approximately 20 km off the coast from Cookstown, Queensland. This island is unique because it contains 12 distinct vegetation zones over the relatively small area of 8 km². Associated with these distinct habitats are underlying edaphic factors that are relatively undescribed. This project examines soil diversity along a vegetation transect from the coast towards the interior. Samples were collected from six unique habitats including coastal grasslands, mangrove swamps, Pandanus swamps, Melaleuca woodlands, wet grasslands and savanna. Several soil characteristics were measured including pH, electrical conductivity, soil salt content, organic matter, organic carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, sulpher, calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, cation exchange capacity, calcium to magnesium ratio, % calcium, % magnesium, % sodium, % potassium, and carbon to nitrogen ratio.

Lizard Island Soil Data Summary

Variable	Label	N	Mean	Std Dev	Minimum	Maximum
PHWAT	pH-water	5	8.26	0.67	7.50	9.10
PHCA	pH-CaCl2	5	7.66	0.65	7.00	8.50
EC		5	0.06	0.01	0.05	0.07
SALT		5	0.02	0	0.02	0.02
OM		5	0.50	0.19	0.30	0.80
OC		5	0.25	0.09	0.16	0.40
N		5	0.05	0	0.05	0.05
P		5	1.40	0.55	1.00	2.00
S		5	3.00	0	3.00	3.00
CA		5	7.42	6.92	2.00	15.00
MG		5	0.20	0.24	0.07	0.64
NA		5	0.07	0.03	0.05	0.11
K		5	0.05	0	0.05	0.05
CAT		5	7.74	7.10	2.20	16.00
CATOMG	Ca:Mg	5	47.80	46.38	20.00	130.00
CAPR	Ca%	5	94.60	3.05	91.00	99.00
MGPR	Mg%	5	3.40	1.52	1.00	5.00
NAPR	Na%	5	1.80	0.84	1.00	3.00
KPR	K%	5	1.80	0.84	1.00	3.00
CTON	C:N	5	5.00	1.82	3.20	8.00

SITE=Interior Grasslands

Variable	Label	N	Mean	Std Dev	Minimum	Maximum
PHWAT	pH-water	5	5.62	0.11	5.50	5.70
PHCA	pH-CaCl2	5	4.74	0.11	4.60	4.90
EC		5	0.05	0	0.05	0.05
SALT		5	0.02	0	0.02	0.02
OM		5	2.06	0.59	1.40	2.90
OC		5	1.07	0.31	0.72	1.50
N		5	0.06	0.01	0.05	0.07
P		5	9.20	7.92	2.00	19.00
S		5	3.00	0	3.00	3.00
CA		5	0.78	0.30	0.57	1.30
MG		5	0.52	0.20	0.38	0.87
NA		5	0.05	0	0.05	0.05
K		5	0.08	0.03	0.06	0.12
CAT		5	1.48	0.53	1.10	2.40
CATOMG	Ca:Mg	5	1.56	0.19	1.30	1.80
CAPR	Ca%	5	54.40	2.30	51.00	56.00
MGPR	Mg%	5	36.40	3.44	33.00	41.00
NAPR	Na%	5	4.20	0.84	3.00	5.00
KPR	K%	5	6.40	1.14	5.00	8.00
CTON	C:N	5	18.95	3.82	14.40	24.00

SITE=Mangroves

Variable	Label	N	Mean	Std Dev	Minimum	Maximum
PHWAT	pH-water	2	6.05	0.21	5.90	6.20
PHCA	pH-CaCl2	2	5.95	0.35	5.70	6.20
EC		2	5.55	0.64	5.10	6.00
SALT		2	1.65	0.21	1.50	1.80
OM		2	5.05	0.35	4.80	5.30
OC		5	5.20	2.40	2.50	7.40
N		5	0.15	0.03	0.11	0.17
P		5	1.20	0.45	1.00	2.00
S		5	200.00	0	200.00	200.00
CA		5	4.94	2.26	3.00	8.60
MG		5	10.90	2.99	7.20	14.00
NA		5	33.60	10.97	20.00	45.00
K		5	0.85	0.25	0.55	1.10
CAT		5	50.40	15.92	31.00	65.00
CATOMG	Ca:Mg	5	0.50	0.12	0.40	0.70
CAPR	Ca%	5	10.20	2.28	8.00	14.00
MGPR	Mg%	5	22.40	1.14	21.00	24.00
NAPR	Na%	5	67.00	2.12	65.00	70.00
KPR	K%	5	2.00	0	2.00	2.00
CTON	C:N	5	33.64	10.86	21.54	43.53

SITE=Melaleuca Swamp

Variable	Label	N	Mean	Std Dev	Minimum	Maximum
PHWAT	pH-water	5	5.48	0.19	5.20	5.70
PHCA	pH-CaCl2	5	4.30	0.22	4.00	4.60
EC		5	0.06	0.02	0.05	0.08
SALT		5	0.02	0.01	0.02	0.03
OM		5	4.02	1.60	2.50	6.50
OC		5	2.10	0.84	1.30	3.40
N		5	0.10	0.06	0.05	0.19
P		5	1.60	0.89	1.00	3.00
S		5	5.60	3.21	3.00	10.00
CA		5	0.50	0.22	0.24	0.83
MG		5	1.38	0.40	1.00	1.90
NA		5	0.77	0.31	0.31	1.10
K		5	0.17	0.08	0.09	0.29
CAT		5	2.84	0.41	2.20	3.20
CATOMG	Ca:Mg	5	0.42	0.13	0.30	0.60
CAPR	Ca%	5	17.80	5.50	12.00	26.00
MGPR	Mg%	5	49.00	9.08	37.00	60.00
NAPR	Na%	5	28.40	11.93	10.00	41.00
KPR	K%	5	6.20	2.17	4.00	9.00
CTON	C:N	5	22.65	4.96	16.92	28.00

SITE=Pandanus Swamp

Variable	Label	N	Mean	Std Dev	Minimum	Maximum
PHWAT	pH-water	5	5.54	0.27	5.20	5.80
PHCA	pH-CaCl2	5	4.70	0.44	4.00	5.20
EC		5	0.35	0.19	0.21	0.67
SALT		5	0.11	0.054	0.07	0.20
OM		5	17.00	2.35	14.00	19.00
OC		5	9.04	1.16	7.50	10.00
N		5	0.47	0.07	0.37	0.53
P		5	4.40	1.67	3.00	7.00
S		5	38.80	25.97	17.00	81.00
CA		5	4.16	1.10	3.00	5.80
MG		5	9.22	1.93	6.80	12.00
NA		5	2.80	0.89	1.40	3.70
K		5	0.74	0.09	0.61	0.84
CAT		5	17.00	3.54	12.00	22.00
CATOMG	Ca:Mg	5	0.48	0.08	0.40	0.60
CAPR	Ca%	5	25.00	2.83	22.00	28.00
MGPR	Mg%	5	55.00	4.06	49.00	59.00
NAPR	Na%	5	16.60	4.34	12.00	22.00
KPR	K%	5	5.00	0.71	4.00	6.00
CTON	C:N	5	19.30	0.72	18.30	20.27

SITE=Wet Grassland