Bedrock determines the elevational patterns of soil phosphorus pools in a subtropical karst forest

Soil phosphorus (P) is an important nutrient limiting the plant productivity. The elevational pattern of soil P concentration is widely used to indicate how it responds to the climatic gradient. However, the bedrock variation in an elevational transect is usually neglected, which could have caused the inconsistent elevational patterns of soil P concentration in previous studies. In present study, we examined elevational patterns of various soil P pools (i.e., labile inorganic P (Pi) and organic P (Po), moderately labile Pi and Po, primary mineral P, and occluded P) in top-soils in an elevational transect with alternating bedrock types (i.e., clasolite and limestone) in a subtropical karst forest.