Soil quality enhancement drives tree growth and broadleaf dominance in fir-broadleaf mixed plantations.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Evaluating soil quality is essential for guiding reforestation and land management strategies, particularly in degraded Chinese fir plantations where long-term productivity and successional dynamics remain poorly understood.

Methods

This study assessed ten mixed-species planting patterns to quantify the Soil Quality Index (SQI) using a Minimum Data Set (MDS) approach, which reduces data redundancy by statistically identifying key indicators from a larger dataset, thereby effectively capturing essential soil functions, and subsequently explored the relationships between SQI and stand growth, structural diversity, biomass, net primary productivity (NPP), as well as percentage of broadleaf species (PBS).

Results

Significant differences were observed across p

SUBMITTER: Fu Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12672489 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature