Abstract:Vegetation construction is one of the most important measures of ecological restoration in arid area and also one of the most effective methods of desertification control. Haloxylon ammodendron, one important sand-fixation plant in desert region of China with remarkable tolerate to drought, hot environmental stress, and can grow rapidly after planting on sand lands, was widely used for restoring vegetation on the peripheries of the oasis to fix the sand dunes in Linze Station since 1975. To clarify the effect of H. ammodendron on soil nutrient stoichiometric characteristics and explore the indicative significance of nutrient stoichiometric ratios on the recovery of soil, this study conducted the research on the artificial forest of H. ammodendron in an desert-oasis ecotone by analyzing soil organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), Available P and CaCO3 in an age sequence of 0-, 2-, 5-, 9-, 13-, 16-, 31-, and 39-year-old H. ammodendron plantations. Results showed that (1) distribution of SOC, TN and TP presented significant layered phenomenon along with the increase of plantation age, even though this feature in TP was relatively backward. In different soil depth, SOC and TN increased significantly with the increase of plantation age, but TP has no significant variation. (2) C : P and N : P also displayed obvious stratification trait and C : P and N : P in different layer also increased with the increase of plantation age. However, C : N presented at a relatively constant variation. (3) The lower content of Available P expressed significant stratification feature after 2-year-old plantation and Available P and CaCO3 in 0-5 cm increased with the increase of plantation age. Nevertheless, CaCO3 : Available P also has no remarkable changes. (4) With the increase of plantation age, soil erodible fraction was highly significant decreased and has remarkably negative correlated with soil nutrients. These results exhibited significant increase of SOC and TN with the increase of establishment time. C : N exhibited a stable trend, compared with C : P and N : P, indicating the formation of nitrogen need a relative fixation ratio of carbon and also stating C : N that less susceptible to the effects of climate factors is quite stable. The small variation of TP mainly derived from the weathering of rock was strongly restricted by time. Moreover, the lower content of Available P and the narrow change of CaCO3 : Available P manifested that the growth of H. ammodendron may limited by soil P and the limited Available P was more fixed by CaCO3. In addition, the negative relationship between soil nutrients and soil erodible fraction further showed that the establishment of H. ammodendron has improved soil texture and enhance soil nutrients contents. Our findings aimed at soil environment has enriched the study on H. ammodendron. However, further study is needed to clarify the response of soil nutrient stoichiometric characteristics to H. ammodendron and herbaceous, so as to provide more knowledge for the restoration effect of H. ammodendron on arid environmental and maintain sustainable development under the limited water condition.