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Changes in vegetation and soil properties during recovery of a subtropical forest in South China

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Abstract

Secondary forests account for a large amount of subtropical forest due to persistent anthropogenic disturbance in China. The interaction between vegetation and soil during recovery process is rather complex and dependent on forest conditions. Understanding how vegetation and soil properties changes and how their relationship develops in secondary forests is key to effective forest restoration and management. Here we explored the patterns of vegetation and soil properties as well as their correlations during forest recovery process in a subtropical forest in south China. Plots of three forest types, i.e., broadleaf-conifer mixed forest, broadleaved forest and old growth stand, were established to represent the recovery stages. The results showed that diversity patterns in the tree, shrub and herb layers were different: in the tree layer the species diversity peaked at the intermediate stage, while in the understory layers it decreased chronologically. Most of the soil factors showed an increasing trend, and different effects of soil factors were found for the three layers as well as for the two spatial scales. Together, our results suggested that vegetation and soil might be interdependent during the recovery course. Further studies are needed on exploring how vegetation interplays with soil at different scales and how nutrient limitations affects the vegetation development in a chronosequence.

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Acknowledgement

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (31600330), Guangdong Forestry Science and Technology Innovation Project (2015KJCX029), and CFERN & BEIJING TECHNO SOLUTIONS Award Funds on excellent academic achievements.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Silviculture, Protection and Utilization, Guangdong Academy of Forestry, Guangzhou, 510520, China

    Fang-fang Huang, Wei-qiang Zhang, Xian-hua Gan, Yu-hui Huang, Yue-dong Guo & Xiao-ying Wen

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  1. Fang-fang Huang
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Correspondence to Wei-qiang Zhang.

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Huang, Ff., Zhang, Wq., Gan, Xh. et al. Changes in vegetation and soil properties during recovery of a subtropical forest in South China. J. Mt. Sci. 15, 46–58 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-017-4541-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-017-4541-6

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