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Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology ›› 2018, Vol. 29 ›› Issue (7): 2173-2182.doi: 10.13287/j.1001-9332.201807.015

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Effects of detritus removal on soil carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus stoichiometry and related factors in a temperate deciduous forest in the Maoershan Mountain, China.

KONG Qing, WANG Chuan-kuan, WANG Xing-chang*   

  1. Center for Ecological Research, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China
  • Received:2017-11-27 Online:2018-07-18 Published:2018-07-18
  • Contact: *E-mail: xcwang_cer@nefu.edu.cn
  • Supported by:

    This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2011BAD37B01), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41503071), and the Program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team of Ministry of Education (IRT_15R09).

Abstract: A detritus-removal experiment was conducted in a temperate deciduous broad-leaved forest in 2007 at the Maoershan Ecological Station in Northeast China, including two treatments: Litterfall removal (NL), root removal (NR). Soil water content, bulk density and the concentrations of soil C, N and P were measured in 2016. The results showed that the C concentration at the surface soil layer (0-10 cm) was reduced by 15.6% and 10.7% for the NL and NR treatments, respectively, while the weighted-mean soil C concentration in 0-30 cm depth was reduced by 7.9% and 4.6%, respectively. The N concentration of the surface layer in the NL treatment decreased by 10.2%, whereas the surface-soil P concentration in the NR treatment increased by 6.6%, resulting in reduced C:P and N:P for both treatments. The standardized major axis regressions showed that the regression slopes between the C, N and P at each layer of 0-30 cm soil depth differed significantly among the treatments. The intercepts of the regressions between soil C concentration and bulk density or soil water content had significant differences among the treatments. The results suggested that detritus-removal caused a coordinated variation in soil C, N and P stoichiometry and physical properties. Therefore, we recommend taking the effect on soil ecological stoichiometry into account in future detritus-removal experiments.