AbstractThe seasonal and vertical distribution of soil nematode communities under three contrasting land uses, i.e., cropland, abandoned cropland and woodland, was conducted in an aquic brown soil. The results showed that land-use types affected the spatio-temporal distribution of soil nematodes and their dominant genera, and different dominant genera showed different responses to land uses. In the abandoned cropland and woodland, most dominant genera were present in the 0–20 cm layers and Chiloplacus was mainly distributed in the 5–30 cm layers, while in the cropland Pratylenchus exhibited an even distribution from the 0–5 to the 40–50 cm depths. Soil environmental parameters under different land uses could influence soil nematodes; soil porosity, total organic C, total N and the C/N ratio were found to positively influence the abundance of some dominant genera in the present study. The faunal profiles revealed that the environmental stability and the homeostasis of the abandoned cropland and woodland lead to higher levels of community structure and the soil food web tend to succeed to maturity. Nematode faunal analyses were found to be a useful method for interpreting the stress or/and nutrient conditions under different land uses.