Soil fractal features of subalpine coniferous forests in western Sichuan under different anthropogenic disturbances

Abstract

Fractal theory, used to study natural figures and images with self-similarity but without characteristic lengths, offers an effective tool to investigate quantitatively the complex systems such as soil. In this paper, we have discussed about our study of the fractal features of the subalpine coniferous forests, soil particles, and microaggregates under different intensities of anthropogenic disturbances in the Miyaluo area of west Sichuan and investigated the effects of the disturbances on the forest soils attributed to different fractal dimensions. The study introduces a new way to investigate the recovery and reestablishment of subalpine coniferous forests.

Keywords

Miyaluo area subalpine coniferous forest, fractal dimensions, soil particles, soil micro-aggregates, anthropogenic disturbances