Microenvironmental heterogeneity of physical soil properties in a broad-leaved Pinus koraiensis forest gap

Abstract

Microenvironmental heterogeneity of soil physical properties in 0-20 cm and 20-40 cm soil layers in a broad-leaved Pinus koraiensis forest gap in Xiao Xing’anling Mountains were analyzed by geostatistical method. The results show that the amount of soil water, saturation water capacity, capillary water capacity and porosity in the top layer were greater than those in the lower layer, except for bulk density, where the opposite applied. Soil physical properties in the top soil layer had relatively higher ranges and coefficients of variation. The total and auto correlation spatial heterogeneity of soil physical properties in the top layer were larger than those in the lower layer. The soil water had a strong anisotropic structure in an easterly and northerly direction, but porosity shows isotropy in the same directions. With increasing spatial distance, the other three physical factors exhibited anisotropic structures. The mutual effect between semi-variograms of soil physical properties in the top layer within the spatial autocorrelation range was not significant. For spatial distribution of physical properties within different layers, the patches at the middle and lower ranks in the forest gap dominated. Patches at higher rank were only distributed in the 0-20 cm soil layer and were located north of the forest gap center.

Key words： broad-leaved Pinus koraiensis forest; forest gap; physical soil property; microenvironmental heterogeneity

Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the Start-up Foundation (No. LHK–04031) of the Scientific Research for Postdoctoral settlement in Heilongjiang Province, “Study on temporal and spatial change of meteorological factors within canopy gap in broad-leaved Pinus koraiensis forest and seedling growth” and the Foundation of Northeast Forestry University, “Study on environmental heterogeneity within canopy gap in broad-leaved Pinus koraiensis forest in the eastern montane area of northeastern China”.

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