Abstract:

In order to explore the spatial distribution of soil nutrient and soil microbes along altitude gradient and their responses to environmental factors in the Xuefeng Mountain, the soil samples from sites at 8 different altitudes (700, 960, 1150, 1320, 1450, 1610, 1750, 1920 m) in the Xuefeng Mountain were analyzed. The results showed that there were significant differences in the soil nutrient contents along altitude gradient (P<0.05), the contents of soil organic matter , total N, total P, available P were highest in the soil of 1610 m altitude, but the contents of the total K, available K were highest in the soil of low altitude. There were significant differences in the characteristics of soil microbes along altitude gradient (P<0.05), the amounts of bacteria, fungi, nitrogen-fixing bacteria and microbial biomss carbon were highest in the soil of 1610 m altitude, but the amounts of actinomyces and cellulolytic bacterium were highest in the soil of 960 m altitude. The amounts of all the microbes in the study were lowest in the soil of 1920 m altitude. The significant positive correlationships were observed between bacteria and soil organic matter, microbial biomss carbon and soil organic matter, actinomyces and environment factors, total N and soil water content, available K and soil temperature, respectively. The correlationships between soil microbes, nutrient and environmental factors were showed the spatial variabilities of soil microbes and soil nutrients were influenced by the altitude and vestigation which distributed along the altitude gradient.