Limited role of shifting cultivation in soil carbon and nutrients recovery in regenerating tropical secondary forests

Shifting cultivation is a dominant land-use in the tropical forest-agriculture frontier Southeast Asia and blamed for much of environmental degradation region. We examined distribution availability four soil macronutrients—i.e., organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) potassium (K), secondary forests regenerating after shifting abandonment. Soil samples were collected along an upland fallow gradient on Leyte Island Philippines. The effect site attributes SOC nutrients was investigated using linear mixed-effect models. found relatively higher concentrations P oldest fallows N concentration youngest forest. There no significant difference other macronutrients within sites different categories depths, except case K, which highest our control old-growth Patch size together with slope age most influential factors explaining variability recovering Our study suggests that may not be detrimental to quality, at least parameters type we studied Philippines upland.