Relationships between the characteristics of soil and understory in a Pinus massoniana forest in southern China

Soil is the basis for vegetation growth, and vegetation in turn improves soil quality. Understanding the relationships between soil and vegetation characteristics is needed to rehabilitate degraded land and implement sustainable land use practices. In particular, it is important to uncover the relationship between natural vegetation restoration and key soil parameters for the improvement of restored ecological environments. This study analyzed the relationships between soil and understory characteristics of a P. massoniana forest in degraded red soil in southern China. Red soils in this area have been severely eroded. The soils were categorized into three groups whose attributes differed significantly and each group was distributed within a topographical type. Understory and soil characteristics were closely correlated, but restoration of the understory was only related to some key soil attributes (e.g. available potassium content, pH, soil water content, bacteria amounts, and urease and catalase activities). Our results provide insight into the relationships between soil and vegetation characteristics for natural revegetation in degraded land with severely eroded soil.