Soil nutrient variation impacted by ecological restoration in the different lithological karst area, Shibing, China

Abstract To carry out differentiated ecological restoration activities and formulate appropriate environmental conservation strategies for karst regions with different underlying bedrocks, it is essential to investigate the impact of ecological restoration and lithological differences on soil nutrients. The Karst world heritage site in Shibing, Guizhou province, China was selected as the study site. Here, we determined pH and nutrient differences in soil profiles of dolomite and limestone areas with ecological restoration activities. The results showed that (1) the main controlling factors of the topsoil were different from those of the core and bottom soils. (2) The topsoil was more sensitive to ecological restoration. Soil organic carbon, total nitrogen, and available nitrogen contents in the topsoil samples from the post-agricultural succession areas were significantly higher than those in the cultivated areas (P