The heath-savannah problem: the effect of fertilizer on sand-heath vegetation of North Stradbroke Island,Queensland

A balanced fertilizer treatment - equivalent to that optimal for pasture development on the infertile sandy soils of the Coastal Lowlands of south-eastern Queensland - was applied to a heathland stand on North Stradbroke Island in 1968, 3 years after the vegetation had been razed by bushfire. The fertilized and control plots were examined in detail in 1968 (before application of fertilizer), in 1969 and in 1976. Eight years after fertilizer treatment the heath species have declined in density and/or biomass. The native grass, Themeda australis, responded to fertilizer and is expanding into gaps as the heath species die. A few composites and grasses are invading the fertilized plots.