Abstract:We measured the ecological characteristics including salinity (EC), bulk density, pH, organic carbon density and nitrogen content in different depths of soils from Phragmites australis community, Suaeda glauca community and Aeluropus sinensis community in coastal wetlands. The order of soil salinity in 0-30 cm depth soil was: the highest in the A.sinensis community and the lowest in the P.australis community. For bulk density, the highest value was in the A.sinensis community and the lowest in the P.australis community. The pH was the highest in the S.glauca community and the lowest in the P.australis community. Within these community, organic carbon density in 0-30 cm depth soil was the highest in the P.australis community (7.06 kg·m-2), followed by A.sinensis community (6.38 kg·m-2) and the lowest in the S.glauca community (5.70 kg·m-2). Organic carbon density in the topsoil (0-10 cm) was the highest, and then decreased with the increasing of the soil depth. The highest total nitrogen content in 0-30 cm depth soils was from P.australis community and the lowest was from A.sinensis community. The order of NO-3-N content was S.glauca＞P.australis＞A.sinensis community, and the order of NH+4-N was P.australis＞S.glauca＞A.sinensis. There were significant negative correlations between organic carbon density and pH value, and between total nitrogen, pH and bulk density. NH+4-N content had significant positive correlations with both organic carbon density and total nitrogen, and NO-3-N content had a significant positive correlation with organic carbon density, but no significant correlation with other factors.