2026-10-10T23:10:59Z https://api.figshare.com/v2/oai

oai:figshare.com:article/33951109 2026-09-21T08:00:22Z category_33614 portal_1059 item_type_3 month_year_09_2026

Individual plant performance, understory, and rust data for restoration plantings of Metrosideros polymorpha in Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death-affected forests on Hawaii Island, 2019-2022 Stephanie G. Yelenik (20316024) Kylle Roy (25081312) Corie Yanger (25081315) Environmental sciences Invasive species Austropuccinia psidii Ceratocystis huliohia Plant ecology Forest & Plant Health environment Metrosideros polymorpha Ecology, Ecosystems, & Environment biota tropical forest forest restoration Ceratocystis lukuohia invasive tree pathogens Plant diseases Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death (ROD), caused by the fungal pathogen Ceratocystis, is killing large numbers of ʻōhiʻa trees (Metrosideros polymorpha) in Hawai‘i. ‘Ōhiʻa is the dominant canopy forest species across many different soil types and climatic conditions and makes up the majority of biomass in native-dominated Hawaiian forests. This study tested whether planting ʻōhiʻa seedlings is viable in areas with high ROD mortality, and how mortality rates due to ROD compare to those of other stressors, such as competition with invasive plants and damage from invasive ungulates. We planted ʻōhiʻa across three climatically different ROD-affected forest sites and crossed this with weeding and fencing treatments. We also tracked seedlings in ʻōhiʻa restoration plantings in two additional sites without weeding and fencing treatments. In all cases, we monitored seedlings monthly and immediately tested dead seedlings for viable Ceratocystis spores. We also collected additional data on the incidence of an introduced foliar rust (Austropuccinia psidii) on seedlings, as well as neighboring vegetation species and canopy cover. We monitored each site for two full years, and because we planted different sites at different times, the entire study period was between 2019 and 2022.<br>Data were collected to monitor the health and survival of planted Metrosideros polymorpha seedlings in ROD affected forests and relate survival and growth to the fungal pathogen as well as other stressors, in order to learn how to best restore M. polymorpha forests in the face of a new fungal pathogen.<br>For information about this study or these data, see Yelenik et al. (2026). 2026-01-02T00:00:00Z Dataset Dataset 10.2737/RDS-2026-0056 https://figshare.com/articles/dataset/Individual_plant_performance_understory_and_rust_data_for_restoration_plantings_of_Metrosideros_polymorpha_in_Rapid_hi_a_Death-affected_forests_on_Hawaii_Island_2019-2022/33951109 CC0