Table 2. Soil characteristics at each elevation in the study area in three sampling periods.
| Sampling period | Elevation category | SM (%) | SBD (g·cm−3) | SOM (%) | TN (%) | TP (%) | TK (%) | pH |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013.11 | Low | 0.66 ± 0.04a | 0.70 ± 0.03b | 5.05 ± 0.27a | 0.24 ± 0.01a | 0.09 ± 0.00a | 0.18 ± 0.00a | 7.50 ± 0.12a |
| Intermediate | 0.61 ± 0.01ab | 0.85 ± 0.02a | 4.41 ± 0.18a | 0.21 ± 0.01b | 0.09 ± 0.01a | 0.15 ± 0.01b | 5.95 ± 0.15b | |
| High | 0.56 ± 0.02b | 0.75 ± 0.05ab | 4.82 ± 0.30a | 0.22 ± 0.01ab | 0.07 ± 0.00b | 0.15 ± 0.00b | 5.99 ± 0.15b | |
| 2014.1 | Low | 0.68 ± 0.03a | 0.74 ± 0.04c | 4.20 ± 0.27a | 0.22 ± 0.02a | 0.09 ± 0.00a | 0.16 ± 0.00a | 7.10 ± 0.09a |
| Intermediate | 0.46 ± 0.03b | 1.07 ± 0.03a | 3.25 ± 0.06b | 0.22 ± 0.01a | 0.08 ± 0.00b | 0.15 ± 0.01b | 6.39 ± 0.21b | |
| High | 0.54 ± 0.02b | 0.90 ± 0.03b | 3.77 ± 0.16ab | 0.20 ± 0.01a | 0.06 ± 0.00b | 0.14 ± 0.00b | 5.78 ± 0.09c | |
| 2014.3 | Low | 0.86 ± 0.06a | 0.65 ± 0.02b | 4.24 ± 0.11a | 0.20 ± 0.01a | 0.08 ± 0.00a | 0.15 ± 0.00a | 7.19 ± 0.07a |
| Intermediate | 0.66 ± 0.05b | 0.91 ± 0.04a | 2.93 ± 0.17b | 0.19 ± 0.01a | 0.07 ± 0.00a | 0.16 ± 0.00a | 6.28 ± 0.10b | |
| High | 0.64 ± 0.03b | 0.90 ± 0.03a | 2.96 ± 0.08b | 0.20 ± 0.01a | 0.06 ± 0.00b | 0.15 ± 0.00a | 6.00 ± 0.12b |
SM: soil moisture content; SBD: soil bulk density; SOM: soil organic matter; TN: total nitrogen; TP: total phosphorus; TK: total potassium. The data are expressed as the mean ± SE. Different letters indicate significant differences between elevations (P < 0.05, Tukey’s HSD test).