ABSTRACT
The alteration of stand age instigates modifications in soil properties and microbial communities. Understanding the impacts of stand age on soil enzyme stoichiometry and microbial nutrient limitations in Camellia oleifera plantation is crucial for nutrient management. Taking C. oleifera plantation across four age groups (<10 a, 15-25 a, 30-50 a, >60 a) in a subtropical red soil region as test objects, we examined the response of soil enzyme stoichiometry and microbial nutrient limitations to change in stand age and analyzed the pathways for such responses. The results showed that, compared to that of stand age <10 a, enzyme C:N in the 15-25 a was increased and enzyme N:P was significantly reduced. Microbial biomass carbon (MBC), microbial biomass nitrogen (MBN), and microbial biomass phosphorus (MBP) exhibited a trend of initially decreasing and then increasing with stand age. MBN and MBN:MBP were significantly higher in the <10 a compared to that in the 30-50 a. MBC:MBN was significantly higher in the 30-50 a and >60 a compared to the <10 a and 15-25 a. Results of redundancy analysis revealed that soil nutrients, microbial biomass and their stoichiometry explained 92.4% of the variations in enzyme stoichiometry. Partial least squares path modeling (PLS-PM) results demonstrated that soil organic carbon (SOC) had a positive effect on microbial C limitation; MBN, MBN:MBP, MBC:MBP, SOC, and total nitrogen had a nega-tive overall effect on microbial P limitation, whereas soil C:N had a positive overall effect on microbial P limitation. There was a significant positive correlation between microbial C and P limitations. With increasing stand age, microbial nutrient limitation shifted from N and P limitation (<10 a) to C and P limitation (15-25 a, 30-50 a, >60 a).