Effects of land use type on soil organic carbon mineralization in Tiantong, Zhejiang Province

Taking Castanopsis fargesii forest as reference, different land use types including Schima superba forest, shrubs, Pinus massoniana forest, plantations of Cunninghamia lanceolat, Pseudolarix kaempferi and Phyllostachys pubescen, Phyllostachys pubescens forest, tea garden, and bare land in Tiantong, Zhejiang Province were selected to investigate their soil organic carbon (SOC) contents, and the SOC mineralization rate after incubated at 25 °C and 60% field water capacity over 33 days. The results showed that evergreen broad-leaved forest (Castanopsis fargesii) had the highest SOC content and mineralization rate, followed by coniferous forest, tea garden and bamboo forest, and bare land, while the CO₂-C released from the mineralization of SOC was the lowest in C. fargesii forest, suggesting that evergreen broad-leaved forest had the highest carbon-fixing ability, and the SOC content and mineralization rate would have a significant decrease when the land use type shifted from evergreen broad-leaved forest to others.