which is in contrast to the widely held belief that conversion from native forest land to cultivated land results in reduced soil organic carbon. similarly, total nitrogen increased about 102% and available phosphorus about 351%. the available potassium, however, decreased approximately 39%. in general, these results were in contrast with other land use studies where the soil nutrients decreased with intensification. the coefficient of variation of soil nutrient contents ranged from 0.19 to 0.77 the coefficient of variation values of soil organic carbon and total nitrogen were similar between 1999 and 1980,although soil organic carbon increased by 41% and total nitrogen by 102% from 1980 to 1999 this result suggested that the spatial patterns of fertilizer input with respect to soil organic carbon and total nitrogen were relatively consistent within quzhou county between 1980 and 1999