Changes of Soil Water, Organic Matter, and Exchangeable Cations Along a Forest Successional Gradient in Southern China

Information on the distribution patterns of soil water content （SWC）, soil organic matter （SOM）, and soil exchangeable cations （SEC） is important for managing forest ecosystems in a sustainable manner. This study investigated how SWC, SOM, and SEC were influenced in forests along a successional grad...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Pedosphere 2007-06, Vol.17 (3), p.397-405
Main Authors: YAN, Jun-Hua, ZHOU, Guo-Yi, ZHANG, De-Qiang, CHU, Guo-Wei
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Pinus massoniana
华南地区
可交换阳离子
土壤水分
有机物
森林演替梯度
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Information on the distribution patterns of soil water content （SWC）, soil organic matter （SOM）, and soil exchangeable cations （SEC） is important for managing forest ecosystems in a sustainable manner. This study investigated how SWC, SOM, and SEC were influenced in forests along a successional gradient, including a regional climax （monsoon evergreen broad-leaved forest, or MEBF）, a transitional forest （coniferous and broad-leaved mixed forest, or MF）, and a pioneer forest （coniferous Masson pine （Pinus rnassoniana） forest, or MPF） of the Dinghushan Biosphere Reserve in the subtropical region of southern China. SWC, SOM, and SEC excluding Ca^2＋ were found to increase in the soil during forest succession, being highest in the top soil layer （0 to 15 cm depth） except for Na^＋. The differences between soil layers were largest in MF. This finding also suggested that the nutrients were enriched in the topsoil when they became increasingly scarce in the soil. There were no significant differences （P = 0.05） among SWC, SOM, and SEC. A linear, positive correlation was found between SWC and SOM. The correlation between SOM and cation exchange capacity （CEC） was statistically significant, which agreed with the theory that the most important factor determining SEC is SOM. The ratio of K^＋ to Na^＋ in the topsoil was about a half of that in the plants of each forest. MF had the lowest exchangeable Ca^2＋ concentration among the three forests and Ca^2＋：K^＋ in MPF was two times higher than that in MF. Understanding the changes of SWC, SOM, and CEC during forest succession would be of great help in protecting all three forests in southern China.
ISSN:1002-0160
2210-5107
DOI:10.1016/S1002-0160(07)60048-4