Biodiv Sci ›› 2009, Vol. 17 ›› Issue (2): 160-167.  DOI: 10.3724/SP.J.1003.2009.08299

Special Issue: 土壤生物与土壤健康

• Paper • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Community traits of soil animal under different ground cover treatments in evergreen broad-leaved forest

Xiaoniao Chen1,2, Wenhui You1,2, Xiangyang Wang1,2, Lan Yi1,2,*()   

  1. 1 Department of Environment Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062
    2 Tiantong National Station of Forest Ecosystem, Chinese National Ecosystem Observation and Research Network, Ningbo, Zhejiang 315114
  • Received:2008-11-19 Accepted:2009-03-05 Online:2009-03-20 Published:2009-03-20
  • Contact: Lan Yi

Abstract:

To understand the effects of ground cover removal on soil animal communities, we investigated the soil fauna community in an evergreen broad-leaved forest logged four years ago at Tiantong, Zhejiang Province between July, 2007 and April, 2008. We used the five following treatments in five sites: (I) big trees with height>8 m and DBH>5 cm were removed but sprouts retained; (II) ground surface vegetation was removed but litter retained; (III) all vegetation and 0-10 cm topsoil were removed; (IV) undergrowth was removed but big trees retained; and (V) a control plot without any disturbance. Soil animal density only differed between site I and site III (P<0.05). The highest density was found at site I. Species richness of soil animals in the 0-5 cm layer was significantly higher than in the 5-10 cm and 10-15 cm layer (P<0.05). Site II was higher than the other four sites in terms of group richness. Based on the density-group index, diversity was highest at site I and lowest at site III. The density of Collembola, Psocoptera, Pseudoscorpiones and Hemiptera were correlated with changes in the density-group index (P<0.001). Our results indicate ground cover characteristics impact the composition of soil communities; the more intense the disturbance, the greater the influence on soil animals.

Key words: disturbance, soil animal, evergreen broad-leaved forest, Tiantong