%0 Journal Article %A Yu-Han SONG %A Peng ZHANG %A Guang-Ze JIN %T Characteristics of shrub leaf carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus stoichiometry and influencing factors in mixed broadleaved-Korean pine forests at different successional stages %D 2021 %R 10.17521/cjpe.2021.0101 %J Chinese Journal of Plant Ecology %P 952-960 %V 45 %N 9 %X

Aims Shrubs are an important component of forest ecosystems. This study investigated changes in the stoichiometric characteristics of shrub leaves during forest succession in order to understand and predict the processes of forest succession.

Methods The study was conducted in the Liangshui National Nature Reserve of Heilongjiang Province, with forest stands at different successional stages of mixed broadleaved-Korean pine (Pinus koraiensis) forest representing secondary birch (Betula platyphylla) forest, mixed deciduous broad-leaved forest, mixed coniferous and broad-leaved forest, and mixed broadleaved-Korean pine forest. Measurements were made on carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) contents in leaves of the understory shrubs and soil, and the stoichiometric characteristics of shrub leaves and relationships with soil stoichiometry were examined with hierarchical analysis.

Important findings The N content in shrub leaves was significantly higher in the mixed broadleaved-Korean pine forest than in other three forest types; the P content was significantly higher in the mixed broadleaved-Korean pine forest than in two other forest types except the secondary birch forest. Soil N and P contents were significantly and positively correlated with leaf N content at individual scale, and soil P concentration was significantly and positively correlated with leaf P content. At the community level, 82% of leaf N content variation and 62% of leaf P content variation were explained by species diversity and soil chemical properties; the Shannon diversity index was significantly and positively correlated with the N and P contents in shrub leaves, and negatively with the leaf C:N ratio and C:P ratio. In conclusion, shrubs in mixed broadleaved-Korean pine forests at the four successional stages were all N-limited, and species diversity better explains the stoichiometric variations in understory shrubs than soil chemical properties.

%U https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/10.17521/cjpe.2021.0101