Knowledge of nutrient traits, especially carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P), is essential for understanding the biogeochemical cycle and ecosystem functioning. However, spatial patterns in soil and plant tissues stoichiometry in the arid and semiarid forest ecosystem are not yet fully understood. Here, a regional-scale study was conducted on the Qilian Mountains to illustrate the macroecological patterns of soil C:N:P stoichiometry and the plant tissue N and P contents in Qinghai spruce (Picea crassifolia) forest and their driving forces. Soil C, N, and P contents and C:N:P ratios at all four soil depth layers (0–5, 5–10, 10–20, and 20–40 cm) showed depths, latitudinal, and longitudinal trends (p < 0.01), except for the soil P content and C:N ratios. The plant N and P contents and N:P ratios were found to be correlated with the latitude and longitude (p < 0.05). The N content and N:P ratios of plant tissue showed a negative correlation with the temperature (p < 0.05), which coincides with the temperature-plant physiological hypothesis. Additionally, the N and N:P of both the soil and plant tissue were positively correlated with precipitation (p < 0.05), which led to the plant tissue N and N:P and the soil TN and N:P being tightly related. Variation partitioning analysis revealed that the soil properties (39.31%) contributed more to the plant tissue N:P stoichiometry variations than climate (6.47%). The results demonstrated that the macroecological pattern of plant tissue N:P stoichiometry is mainly regulated by soil traits. These findings contribute to our understanding of the C:N:P macroecological pattern of forest ecosystems in arid regions, providing basic data for future forest cultivation and management in those areas.

了解营养性状，特别是碳（C），氮（N）和磷（P），对于理解生物地球化学循环和生态系统功能至关重要。但是，对干旱和半干旱森林生态系统中土壤和植物组织化学计量的空间格局尚未完全了解。在这里，对祁连山进行了区域规模的研究，以说明青海云杉（云杉云杉）林地土壤C：N：P化学计量的宏观生态模式以及植物组织中氮和磷的含量及其驱动力。在所有四个土壤深度层（0–5、5–10、10–20和20–40 cm）的土壤C，N和P含量以及C：N：P比率均显示出深度，纬度和纵向趋势（p <0.01），但土壤P含量和C：N比除外。发现植物的N和P含量以及N：P比率与经度和纬度相关（p <  0.05）。植物组织的氮含量和氮磷比与温度呈负相关（p <  0.05），与温度-植物生理假说相吻合。此外，土壤和植物组织的氮和氮：磷与降水量呈正相关（p < 0.05），这导致植物组织N和N：P与土壤TN和N：P紧密相关。变异分区分析表明，土壤特性（39.31％）对植物组织N：P化学计量比的贡献大于气候（6.47％）。结果表明，植物组织N：P化学计量的宏观生态模式主要受土壤性状的调控。这些发现有助于我们了解干旱地区森林生态系统的C：N：P宏观生态格局，为这些地区的未来森林种植和管理提供基础数据。