Distribution characteristics of SOM and nitrogen on the eastern slope of Gongga Mountain

Soil is the largest carbon pool of terrestrial ecosystem, and its carbon content accounts for two thirds of the whole terrestrial ecosystem (Schlesinger, 1990). The soil organic matter (SOM) content and turnover rate exert impacts directly on the terrestrial ecosystem and global carbon cycles. Nitrogen is the main limiting factor constraining the plant growth (Vitousek etal., 1997; Pamela etal., 2002). Changes of the nitrogen content will change the microbial respiration through changing the…

Distribution characteristics of SOM and nitrogen on the eastern slope of Gongga Mountain

The distribution of soil organic matter (SOM) and nitrogen on Gongga Mountain was studied in this paper. The results showed that the content of SOM and nitrogen (N) of A horizon had an ascending trend with the increase of the elevation. The vegetation types distributed higher than the mixed broad-leaved and coniferous forest have the irregular trends. In the transitional zone vegetation such as mixed trees and treeline, the content of SOM and N is higher than other vegetation types. The distribution of SOM and N of A horizon is dependent on the synthetic effect of climate and vegetation types. The vertical distribution of SOM and N in soil profiles has the similar trends for all kinds of vegetation types, i.e., the content of A horizon is higher than that of the B and C horizons, which is the same to the distribution of dead animal and plant in soil. The soil C:N is between 7 and 25, which is relatively low comparing to the appropriate C:N of 25-30. The ratio of soil carbon to nitrogen (C:N) increases with the increase of the elevation, but its vertical distribution in soil horizons varies with different vegetation types. The N exists in SOM mainly in the form of organic nitrogen, and the soil C:N correlates significantly with SOM.