Abstract

Study of tropical and subtropical forest soils sampled in a hilly area of Kerala, from 150 m (lowland west coast tropical evergreen forest at Trivandrum), 750 m (west coast tropical evergreen forest at Wynad) and 1450 m (southern subtropical broadleaved hill forest at Munnar) altitude, showed that their properties varied significantly with altitude. Organic matter content, water holding capacity and cation exchange capacity increased, while pH, bulk density and Al2O3 content decreased with altitude. The clay and Al2O3 contents showed no trend and the C: N ratio was constant at 12: 1 in soils from all three altitudes