Abstract:In order to determine the stoichiometric traits of two fern species and their relationships to soil available nutrient, the above-and belowground parts of Dicranopteris dichotoma and Blechnum orientale and soils at 0-10 cm and 10-20 cm layers were collected from subtropical forests in Fujian Province, respectively. The carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) contents in plant and soil were measured. The results showed that N and P contents were significantly higher in aboveground than those in belowground, while C content did not show significant difference, which led to lower C:N and C:P ratios in aboveground. Compared with B. orientale, D. dichotoma had low N and P contents in aboveground; high C content, C:N and C:P ratios in both above-and belowground; high coefficient of variation and phenotypic plasticity indices of N and P contents. These stoichiometric trends may indicate that D. dichotoma had high nutrient use efficiency by maximizing its performance, while B. orientale had low nutrient use efficiency by sustaining its performance. N contents in both of the above-and belowground of two fern species were not significantly correlated with available N in soil at depth from 0 to 20 cm. Total P content in soil (both in 0-10 cm and 10-20 cm layers), however, was significantly and positively correlated with the P contents in both parts of D. dichotoma, but not with those in B. orientale (only P content in belowground had weak positive correlation with total P content in soil of 10-20 cm layer. Therefore, it was suggested that D. dichotoma could be a potential indicator of soil P availability in subtropical forests.
