[Ecological stoichiometry of soil carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus within soil aggregates in tea plantations with different ages].

This study selected 4 tea plantations with different ages (12-15, 20-22, 30-33 and >50 year-old) located in Ya' an, Sichuan Province, China to investigate the distribution patterns of soil organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) , and to examine the ecological stoichiometric characteristics of C, N and P within soil aggregates. The results showed that the coefficients of variation of SOC, TN and TP were 17.5%, 16.3% and 9.4%, respectively in the 0-20 cm soil layer and were 24.0%, 21.0% and 9.2%, respectively in the 20-40 cm soil layer. The spatial variation of TP was lower than that of SOC and TN but there were significant positive correlations among them. SOC and TN were distributed in the small-size aggregates and both of them had the greatest values in the >50 year-old tea plantation, however, the distribution of TP was relatively uniform among aggregates and ages. The coefficients of variation of C/N, C/P, and N/P were 9.4%, 14.0% and 14.9%, respectively in the 0-20 cm soil layer and were 7.4%, 24.9% and 21.8%, respectively in the 20-40 cm soil layer. Variation of C/N was lower than that of C/P and N/P. Averaged C/P and N/P values in the small-size aggregates were higher than in aggregates of other sizes, and the maximum values were in the >50 year-old plantation. C/N, C/P and N/P had good indication for soil organic carbon storage.