Effects of Forest Conversion on Soil Ecosystem Services in Liuxihe National Forest Park, China

Abstract

The transition from natural forest to plantations has increased dramatically in the past decades. Forest conversion will affect soil properties and thus soil ecosystem services. Based on soil indicators, we studied the differences of soil ecosystem services among three forest types in Liuxihe National Forest Park and analyzed the effects of conversion from natural forest to artificial forest on soil ecosystem services. The results showed that the soil carbon sequestration of evergreen broadleaf forest (EBF) was stronger, and the soil organic carbon density (36.43 ± 0.97 kg m−3) was significantly higher than that of moso bamboo forest (MBF) (25.46 ± 1.72 kg m−3) and sugar orange forest (SOF) (19.31 ± 2.68 kg m−3) in the 0–10 cm soil layer. The soil water conservation of MBF was higher, and its soil water content was significantly higher than that of EBF in the three soil layers, which was more than 20% higher than that of EBF. There was no significant difference in soil total nitrogen content among the three forest types, while the soil total phosphorus content of MBF and SOF was more than twice that of EBF. It is important to consider soil ecosystem services in forest protection and restoration in forest parks.