Study of the Effects of Land Use Change on Organic Soil Characteristics Case Study: Shenroud of Siahkal, Guilan Province

In order to study the effect of land use change of forest into pasture and garden on soil characteristics, Shenroud of Siahkal Region located of Iranian north forests was selected. Soil samples were taken using random systematic method from depth of 0 to 30 centimeters. Totally 60 soil samples (20 samples for each region) were delivered to the soil lab. The data analysis was implemented using SPSS 18 Software and in order to study and compare the data average, the one way variance analysis test (ANOVA) and Duncan's multivariate test were used. The research results showed that the percentage of organic carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus in the forests is higher than the tea garden and pasture which implies a decline in soil quality due to forest land use change into pasture and tea garden. Average carbon to nitrogen ratio was highest in tea garden and the lowest in pasture and forest. Therefore, it can be said that land use change can affect the soil characteristics and lead to soil destruction and decline in soil nutrients.