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Stoichiometric characteristics of soil C, N and P in subtropical forests along an urbantosuburb gradient.

HE Jun-jie, CHEN Xiao-mei*, FENG Si-hong, YAO Ting-yu, LIANG Qian-wen, FU Jia-ming   

  1. (School of Geography Sciences, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China)
  • Online:2016-03-10 Published:2016-03-10

Abstract: With increasing urbanization, more and more attention has been paid on the structure and functions of urban forests. The changes in ecosystem structure and function can be reflected by those in stoichiometric characteristics of carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P). In order to explore potential influences of urbanization on the stoichiometric characteristics of C, N and P, soil samples (0-10 and 10-20 cm) were collected from six subtropical forests along an urbantosuburb gradient in the Pearl River Delta that has been experiencing an unprecedented level of urbanization. The results showed that soil C and N concentrations in layers 0-10 cm  and 10-20 cm were significantly higher in the suburb forests than in the urban forests. There was no significant difference in soil P concentrations in 0-10 cm layer between the urban and suburb forests (P=0.226). However, soil P concentrations in 10-20 cm were significantly greater in the suburb forests than in the urban forests (P=0.001). Both soil N∶P and C∶P were significantly higher in the urban forests than in the suburb forests but soil C∶N was not significantly different. Our results suggested that rapid urbanization changed nutrient cycling in subtropical forests, which would reduce the stability of structure and function of urban forests.

Key words: containerized transplant, mushroom residue compost, Larix principis-rupprechtii