Abstract:Taken the Jinggangshan National Nature Reserve as the study area, soil samples were collected from 57 profiles in five different depth layers (0–10, 10–20, 20–40, 40–60,?>60 cm) and the total nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and organic carbon were measured. Combined with forest types and DEM data, the soil nutrient contents of different forest types and altitude zones were analyzed. The results showed: 1) the content of organic carbon was the highest and the content of total phosphorus was the lowest. The soil nutrient contents decreased with increasing soil depth. 2) Soil type presented a spatial distribution of altitude gradient feature, in an altitude order of yellow brown >yellow soil >yellow red soil>red soil. 3) The contents of total phosphorus, organic carbon and C/N increased with increasing altitude, but the content of total potassium was on the contrary. 4) The soil nutrients were different in different forest types. The soil nutrient contents of evergreen broad-leaved forest, deciduous broad-leaved forestand evergreen/deciduous broad-leaved mixed forests were comparatively higher. The soil nutrient contents of mountaintop dwarf forest and temperate coniferous forest were significantly higher than those of other forest types except for total nitrogen and total potassium. The soil nutrient contents of bamboo forest and shrubbery were comparatively lower. 5) The spatial distribution of soil nutrients of different forest types had certain relationship with their distribution altitude.