Scale correlation between vegetation and soil in larch forest, NE China

After the analysis on the linages of species, the fractal dimensions of vegetation and soil in a managed larch(Larix gmelini) forest in Daxingan Mountains, NE China were estimated separately, and their scale correlation was discussed. (1) The dominant species of the larch forest, larch and the important accompany species, birch (Betula platyphylla) were homogeneously distributed along the transect. The other species were heterogeneous, and can be divided into three groups located on the right, left and central parts of the transect respectively. The transect can be separated into two parts at the position for the 29th quadrat(580m). (2) The fractal dimension in the large scale range from 200 to 400m was lower than that in the small scale range from 0 to 200m in the forest, indicating the different variation regularities of spatial heterogeneity in different scale ranges. The inflection point at 200m was one of the key scales of spatial hierarchy of the larch forest. (3) The scale variation of the forest was correlated with that of soil pH on large scales, which reflected the indirect control of the dominant species to the spatial pattern and species distribution of understorey by changing soil acidity in the forest and the indirect effects of forest management.