Abstract:Xishan City,a typical area of the Yangtz River Delta,was selected as a case for study of responses of 7 soil fertility indices,such as soil pH,organic matter (OM),total nitrogen (TN),total phosphorus (TP),available nitrogen (AN),available phosphorus (AP),and available potassium (AK),to changes in land use,i.e.from dry-land to unused land (DCU),from paddy field to vegetable field (PCV),from paddy field to dry-land (PCD),from paddy field to forest land (PCF),and from paddy field to unused land (PCU),in Yangtze River Delta.Results show that changes in land use did significantly affect soil properties to a varying degree.1) PCV,PCD and PCF led to decrease in soil pH by 0.47,0.78 and 0.17,respectively,while DCU and PCU to increase by 0.24 and 0.74,respectively;2) PCU,PCV and PCF led to decrease in content of OM by 3.83,3.18 and 0.35 g kg-1,respectively,while PCD and DCU to increase by 7.58 and 1.07 g kg-1respectively;3) DCU,PCV and PCU led to decrease in content of TN by 0.31,0.08 and 0.11 g kg-1,while PCD and PCF to increase by 0.41and 0.04 g kg-1,respectively;4) DCU led to decrease in content of TP slightly by 0.01 g kg-1,while PCV,PCD,PCF and PCU to increase by 0.23,0.08,0.23 and 0.09 g kg-1,respectively;5) DCU and PCU led to decrease in content of AN by 2.38 and 7.62 mg kg-1,while PCV,PCD and PCF to increase by 11.61,34151 and 18.26 mg kg-1,respectively;6) DCU led to decrease in content of AP by 3.70 mg kg-1,while PCV,PCD,PCF and PCU to increase by 45.16,7.54,40.55 and 10.94 mg kg-1,respectively;and 7) DCU,PCV,PCD,PCF and PCU led to increase in content of AK by 8.75,77.44,32.28,160.4 and 27.59 mg kg-1,respectively.