Variations of nutrient element contents of plants and soils in the process of karst rocky desertification

The present research on karst rocky desertification is mainly focused on qualitative analysis and obviously lack of quantitative and successive mechanism studies. Currently, classification of rocky desertification grades mainly depends on ratio of rocky coverage or ratio of plant and soil coverage. The process of rocky desertification was divided into latent, slight, medium and serious grades without mention of soil degradation. The Cha＇eryan catchment in the Huajiang Gorge of Guizhou Province was selected as the research area in this paper. Soil basic physical characteristics, nutrient element contents of soil and plant were studied in the process of rocky desertification. The karst soil characteristics elucidated that the clay content was high, the contents of soil organic matter, nutrient element （except potassium and sodium）, available contents of elements （except of potassium） were also high; ashes of plants were rich in calcium and nitrogen, and poor in iron, zinc, potassium and phosphorus. Meanwhile, the contents of plant ashes showed a significant positive relationship with calcium content of plant. There were no clear relations between soil degradation and succession of rocky desertification according to current classification standard. Soil particle size distribution, specific gravity, soil organic matter content, total and available nutrient element contents did not vary with the succession of rocky desertification.

Variations of nutrient element contents of plants and soils in the process of karst rocky desertification