Soil chemical laboratory analyses of all 27 comparative study plots. Anaylsis done with the Hedley fractionation method (Modification by Tiessen & Moir, 1993) for the top three (0-5, 5-10, 10-20cm) of the six depth increments of each CSP

Depth increments were taken from systematic corings: 1 coring per subplot means 9 corings per CSP. Samples were bulked from the 9 corings to one sample per depth increment (0-5, 5-10, 10-20 cm.), so that 3 samples exist per CSP. samples were air-dried, sieved < 2mm, using approx. 500mg per sample for analysis with hedley fractionation method (a sequential extraction method for organic and inorganic P fractions), photometric measurement of Phosphorus with molybdenum blue method according to Murphy & Riley (1962).

The Gutianshan National Nature Reserve (NNR) is located in the western part of Zhejiang Province (29º8'18" – 29º17'29" N, 118º2'14" – 118º11'12" E, Fig. 1). The Gutianshan NNR has an area of approximately 81 km2. From 27 comparative study plots (CSPs) soil samples were taken in 3 depth increments per CSP

Samples were collected 2008 and 2009 (SP6). Lab analyses were carried from 2011 to 2012 (SP12)

no organisms

Phosphorus fractions in soils were analyzed by the sequential extraction method according to Hedley (Hedley et al. 1982a). The whole fractionation process used for this data is described in detail by Tiessen and Moir (2008). The general usefulness of this method to determine P in fractions of distinctly different solubility is widely discussed (Condron and Newman 2011, Cross and Schlesinger 1995, Yang and Post 2011). The individual fractions can be described as readily soluble and exchangeable Pi (Pi Resin), desorbable Pi (pi_nahco3) and readily mineralizable Po (po_nahco3), Fe/Al associated Pi (pi_naoh, pi_naoh_s) and Fe/Al associated Po (po_naoh, po_naoh_s), Ca associated Pi (pi_1mhcl, pi_hcl_conc), Ca associated Po (po_hcl_conc), and residual P (tp_residual). For the purpose of subsequent statistical analyses, the Hedley fractions can be grouped by their solubility in labile (pi_resin, pi_nahco3 and po_nahco3), moderate labile (pi_naoh, pi_naoh_s, po_naoh, po_naoh_s, pi_1mhcl) and stable P pools (pi_hcl_conc, po_hcl_conc, tp_residual) as commonly found in literature. (Cross and Schlesinger 1994, de Schrijver et al. 2011, Stevenson and Cole 1999, Yang and Post 2011).