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Spatial variability of soil physicochemical properties in the alpine tundra of Changbai Mountain in relation to topographic factors.

LIU Yu-xia, XU Jia-wei*, JIN Ying-hua, ZHU Rui-shuai, NIU Li-ping, WANG Ai-lin, ZHANG Ying-jie   

  1. (School of Geographical Sciences, Northeast Normal University, Changchun 130024, China).
  • Online:2017-03-10 Published:2017-03-10

Abstract: In order to illustrate the spatial differences of tundra soil physical and chemical properties and provide basic data for retrieving alpine tundra change processes in Changbai Mountain, we collected 132 soil samples. Four topographic factors including elevation, slope, slope aspect, and slope position were selected and 13 soil physicochemical properties were analyzed. We conducted semivariogram analysis, correlation analysis and factor analysis on these properties, and regression analysis and redundancy analysis between soil physicochemical properties and topographic factors. Results showed that: (1) The contents of available nutrients and organic  were high, with an average content of 22.96% for organic matter. The soil was acidic, with an average pH value of 4.86. The particle composition was silt>sand>clay after removing the gravels. Correlation between soil physicochemical properties was high. Three types of factors (inorganic nutrient supply factors, soil particle composition factors, soil organic nutrient supply factor) were derived from 13 soil physicochemical properties. (2) Elevation was the main topographic factor affecting inorganic nutrient supply and organic nutrient supply within the altitude range from 2049 to 2239 m, and it was positively correlated with nutrient content. Slope was the main topographic factor affecting soil organic nutrient supply, and it was negatively correlated with organic nutrient content. Slope position was the main topographic factor of soil particle composition. (3) Elevation, slope, slope aspect and slope position explained 42.8% of variation of soil physicochemical properties, while the first axis explained 28.2% of the variation, the second axis explained 14.6% of the variation. Among the four topographic factors, elevation was the most important factor on the variation of soil physicochemical properties, followed by slope.