Microelement distributions and responses to human disturbance in meadow soil of Wugong Mountain

The supply of available soil microelement will affect the normal growth and development of plant. The present study was conducted to analyze the distribution characteristics of available soil microelement Fe, Cu, Mn, Zn, and B and its response to disturbance in the meadow soil of Wugong Mountain. The results showed that the average contents of available Fe, Cu, Mn, Zn, and B were 169.15, 0.94, 3.73, 1.60, and 0.28 mgkg-1, respectively, and available Fe, Cu, Zn, and B did not significantly change with the increase of altitude, and available Mn at 0―20 cm soil layer had a significant (P 0.05) decreasing trend with the increase of altitude. Available Fe, Mn, Zn had spatial heterogeneity. Available Cu was sensitive response to human disturbance at both 0-20 cm and 20-40 cm soil layer, and the enrichment of available Cu was positively associated with the increase of the degree of human disturbance with the biggest enrichment 139.5% and 181.8%, respectively.