The natural forest vegetation degraded to shrub-dominated plant communities in karst areas of Yunnan province, due to the geological conditions and long-term human disturbance. Plantation stands of different tree species have been established to raise ecosystem services across Yunnan province, such the karst shrub areas, during the last three decades. In this context, the elemental compositions of original soils could be influenced to a certain extent. In this study, we measured the total and available element concentrations of 13 elements (C, N, S, P, K, Ca, Mg, Na, Fe, Al, Cu, Zn, and Mn), and summarised the stoichiometric traits of soils in the shrub, Pinus yunnanensis, Alnus japonica, and Platycladus orientalis stands in Luxi county, Yunnan province. The results showed that firstly, soil stoichiometric traits of four communities were significantly distinguished based on canonical discriminant analysis. Furthermore, soil total Fe, P, K, Mn concentrations, and available Ca, Mg, and NH₄⁺-N concentrations, contributed to the differences the most. Secondly, cypress stands showed lower total C, N, S, Na and NO₃^--N concentrations compared with the other three communities, suggesting that the soil fertility was reduced. The soil NH₄⁺-N concentration was higher in alder stands compared with the other communities; the soil available Fe and Cu concentrations were highest in the Yunnan pine stand. Furthermore, there were also significant differences of C/N and C/K ratios among the four stands. Thirdly, based on a correlation analysis of the 13 elements and the pH value, 35 pair-elements showed a significant correlation, accounting for 38.5% of all elements, suggesting that there was strong inter-dependence accumulation of soil elements in these karst areas. Compared with the shrub community, the significant correlations between the total elements and available elements in plantation stands were higher. Our results have important implications for plantation establishment and management to increase ecosystem services in such karst areas.