Bidirectional feedbacks between Abies koreana dieback and soil properties slow soil carbon turnover in a subalpine forest

Abstract Tree–soil interactions regulate carbon and nutrient cycling in forest ecosystems, but widespread dieback can disturb these processes with biogeochemical consequences. We investigated how Abies koreana dieback both responds to, and feeds back on, soil properties in subalpine forests on Mt. Jiri, South Korea. Soils were sampled at 0–5, 5–10, and 10–15 cm depths across nine stands, categorized into high- (HM) and low-mortality sites (LM). The HM was characterized by steeper southwestern sl