Water holding effect of subalpine dark coniferous forest soil in Gongga Mountain, China

Abstract

Because of the distinction of soil property and humus content, soil water content is not ideal to indicate whether it is suitable to the growth of plant. Mainly based on the PF-a numerical value denoting the water regime of soil and connected with the growth of plant, the study combined the moisture percentage of soil with PF to research in quantity the interrelation between the moisture percentage and PF in different succession phases of subalpine dark coniferous forest in Gongga Mountain. The results showed that: (1) In the same PF value, the moisture percentage in humus horizon increased gradually with the development of the succession of the dark coniferous forest; The moisture percentage of over-mature forest was the highest and>mature forest>half-mature forest>young growth forest; (2) With the increase of soil depth, the soil bulk density increased and the moisture percentage decreased, but the difference in the percentage of moisture was not notable in different succession phases. (3) In different succession series, the vegetation affected the soil water characteristics by increasing the soil organic matter, improving the soil construction, receding the soil bulk density and enhancing the soil porosity; (4) The humus horizon of the dark coniferous forest soil has the highest water holding capability in this region.