Secondary Succession and Soil Fertility Restoration in South-Western Nigeria: III. Soil and Vegetation Interrelationships

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Abstract
Canonical correlation and multiple regression were used to examine the relationships between soil and vegetation in successional forest fallow plots in southwestern Nigeria. Canonical correlation indicated positive relationships of the concentration of topsoil nutrients and organic matter status with tree size and vegetation and of topsoil clay proportion with mesophanerophyte proportion and tree density. There was a negative relationship of topsoil silt proportion with the proportion of non-phanerophytes. Regression analyses indicated that tree size and vegetation cover, and the proportion of mesophanerophytes and tree density, were the most important vegetation components that influence fallow soil organic matter concentration, cation exchange capacity and water-holding capacity.