Study finds trees in southern subtropical forests more tolerant to soil acidification and phosphorus deficiency

by Zhu Hanbin, Chinese Academy of Sciences
April 19, 2025

Recently, a research team led by Yan Junhua, a researcher at the South China Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, found that trees in subtropical forests are more capable of coping with soil acidification and the phosphorus deficiency it induces than herbs. The relevant results were published in Ecology and released in the form of a “Photo Gallery” in The Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America.

As global forest soil acidification intensifies, phosphorus limitation of tropical and subtropical forest plants is becoming increasingly severe. It is not yet clear whether trees or herbs will be the first to be affected by phosphorus limitation and exit the ecosystem.

Keep reading (in Chinese): https://news.sciencenet.cn/htmlnews/2025/4/542476.shtm

Read the Ecology paper: https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ecy.70071

See the Bulletin photo gallery: https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/bes2.70015