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Land-use change affects stoichiometric patterns of soil organic carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus in the red soil of Southeast China

  • Soils, Sec 3 • Remediation and Management of Contaminated or Degraded Lands • Research Article
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Abstract

Purpose

Soil organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen (TN), and total phosphorus (TP) play a vital in plant growth, and their stoichiometric ratios (RCN, RCP, RNP, and RCNP) are important indicators of the elemental balance in the soil ecosystem. However, the effects of land-use change (from natural forest to high-intensity orchards) on dynamics of SOC, TN, TP, and their stoichiometric ratios along the deep soil profile remain poorly understood, especially in the red soil of Southeast China.

Materials and methods

Therefore, in the present study, we selected the high-intensity managed pomelo orchard systems (7-year-old and 20-year-old) of Pinghe County developed from the natural forest and investigated their soil nutrients distribution and stoichiometric ratios at a depth of 0–200 cm.

Results and discussion

We found that conversion of natural forest into highly managed pomelo orchard systems effectively increased the SOC (5.01 to 9.05%), TN (98.80 to 126.79%), and TP (507.50 to 1914.65%) contents in the depth of 0–20 cm. On the contrary, in this same depth, RCP and RNP consistently decreased with increasing planting years, while no significant differences were found in RCN between 7-year-old and 20-year-old pomelo orchards. Nonetheless, planting year affected the SOC, TN, RCN, and RCP in the deep soil at 0–200 cm, while TP and RNP at 0–80-cm soil depth.

Conclusions

These findings strengthen our understanding of soil nutrients and stoichiometry changes as a result of land-use change and could also provide a vital resource for the evaluation of different land uses.

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Funding

The funding for this project was provided by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2017YFD0200200/2017YFD0200207, 2016YFD0200400/2016YFD0200401).

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  1. Xiaojun Yan and Wenhao Yang contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. International Magnesium Institute, College of Resources and Environment, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, 350002, China

    Xiaojun Yan, Wenhao Yang, Muhammad Atif Muneer, Siwen Zhang, Mingkuang Wang & Liangquan Wu

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  1. Xiaojun Yan
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  2. Wenhao Yang
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  3. Muhammad Atif Muneer
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  4. Siwen Zhang
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Correspondence to Liangquan Wu.

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Yan, X., Yang, W., Muneer, M.A. et al. Land-use change affects stoichiometric patterns of soil organic carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus in the red soil of Southeast China. J Soils Sediments 21, 2639–2649 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-021-02953-8

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