Altitudinal gradients of soil and vegetation carbon and nitrogen in a high altitude nature reserve of Karakoram ranges

This study aimed to investigate the correlation of carbon and nitrogen in soil and leaves with the altitude, vegetation type, herbaceous biomass (HB), litter mass (LM) and with each other. Soil and leaf samples collected from different forest types along altitudinal gradients in the Karakoram Mountains. Dry and gas law methods were used for the chemical analysis. Regression models used for correlation analysis and T test for comparison. The correlation of soil total carbon (STC) and soil total nitrogen (STN) along altitudinal gradients and correlation between soil organic carbon (SOC) and STN was significantly positive with the values R(2) = 0.1684, p = 0.01, R(2) = 0.1537, p = 0.009 and R(2) = 0.856, p = 7.31E−10 respectively, while it was non-significant between soil inorganic carbon (SIC) and altitude and also between SIC and STN. The concentration of SOC and STN was highest in the broad leaved Betula utilis forest (22.31, 1.6 %) and least in the mixed (Pinus, Juniper, Betula) forest soil (0.85, 0.09 %) respectively. In the tree species leaf total carbon (LTC) and leaf total nitrogen (LTN) were highest in the Pinus wallichiana (PW) (632.54, 19.77), and least in the Populus alba (87.59, 4.06). In the shrub species LTC and LTN nitrogen were highest in the Rosa webiana (235.64, 7.45) and least in the Astragalus gilgitensis (43.45, 1.60) respectively. Total carbon and total nitrogen showed a slightly decreasing and increasing trend with altitude in the leaf and soil samples, respectively. The mean nitrogen and carbon was higher in the leaves of trees (3, 97.95) than in the shrubs (2.725, 74.24) and conifers (2.26, 76.46) than in the leaves of the deciduous (2, 46.36) trees. The correlation between LTC and STN was non-significant. Strong significant (R(2) = 0.608, p = 0.003) and weak non-significant (R(2) = 0.04, p = 0.32) relationships were found in STN and STC with LM and HB respectively. SOC (75.15 %) was found to be the main contributor to the STC (76.20 %) as compared to the SIC (1.05 %). Furthermore, SOC (75.15 %) was the major constituent to the soil organic matter (SOM) as compared to the STN (5.85 %). The vegetation type and litter both showed high impact on STN and STC, while altitude and HB showed very little or no impact on carbon and nitrogen concentrations. However, altitude puts great impact on shaping vegetation structure due to decreasing temperature along the elevation and other climatic factors which are further responsible in controlling the carbon and nitrogen concentration. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s40064-016-1935-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.