Roles of bryophyte in nutrient cycling in dark coniferous forest of Changbai Mountains

This paper measured the nutrient contents of five main bryophytes in the dark coniferous forest of Changbai Mountains, and estimated their values per unit area. The results showed that bryophyte had a nitrogen content 54.371 kg·hm^-2, being 12.22% of total nitrogen content of arbor, shrub and herb, and its potassium and phosphorous content was 12.042 kg·hm^-2 and 31.679 kg·hm^-2, occupying 5.63% and 70.57% of the total, respectively. The phosphorous content of bryophyte was higher than that of arbor, and 2.4 and 792 times as much as that of herb and shrub, respectively, indicating that bryophyte was an important phosphorous pool. Soil nitrogen and potassium content under different coverage of bryophyte had little difference, while soil phosphorous content was significantly different. The soil with no bryophyte coverage had the highest phosphorous content (0.419 ± 0.023 g·kg^-1), while that with 80% ∼ 100% bryophyte coverage had the lowest one (0.346 ± 0.017 g·kg^-1), suggesting that soil phosphorous content was decreased with increasing bryophyte coverage.