Carbon : nitrogen stoichiometry in forest ecosystems during stand developmentgeb

Results The C : N ratio in plant tissue, litter, forest floor and mineral soil exhibited large variation across various sequences, with an average of 145.8 9.4 (mean SE), 49.9 3.0, 38.2 3.1 and 18.5 0.9, respectively. In most sequences, the plant tissue C : N ratio increased significantly with stand age, while the C : N ratio in litter, forest floor and mineral soil remained relatively constant over the age sequence. N and C scaled isometrically (i.e. the slope of the relationship between log-transformed N and C is not significantly different from 1.0) in litter, forest floor and mineral soil both within and across sequences, but not in plant tissue either within or across sequences. The C : N ratio was larger in coniferous forests than in broadleaf forests and in temperate forests than in tropical forests. In contrast, the N–C scaling slope did not reveal significant differences either between coniferous and broadleaf forests or between temperate and tropical forests.