The composition of the community structure of oribatid mites in subtropical forests of different tree species: A case study of Xingangshan, Jiangxi Province

doi:10.17520/biods.2022334

Abstract

Abstract:

Aims: Global environmental change leads to increasing biodiversity loss, and soil animal communities are among the most species-rich components of terrestrial ecosystems. One of the most important biodiversity-ecosystem functioning experiments was designed in subtropical China (referred to as BEF-China). Here, we investigate the change of oribatid mite community structures in different tree species forests (site A and site B) of BEF-China.
Methods: Soil samples from BEF-China were collected from September 2019 to April 2022. The abundance, diversity, community structure, and ecological indices of oribatid mite communities as well as environmental factors were analyzed and compared between forests with different tree compositions.
Results: We found that, (1) the community structure of oribatid mites in each forest was significantly different. The relative abundance of Oppiidae, Lohmanniidae, Oribatulidae, and Microzetidae was higher in site A than site B; and the relative abundance of Scheloribatidae, Tectocepheidae, and Trhypochthoniidae was higher in site B than site A. (2) There were different seasonal dynamics of oribatid mite communities among the four seasons. In site A, the abundance, species richness, and Shannon diversity of oribatid mites in summer and autumn were markedly lower than those in spring and winter. However, the diversity of oribatid mites in spring and autumn were similar in site B. (3) There were distinct correlations between oribatid mite communities and environmental factors. And yet, different oribatid mite species have varied responses to indicated factors.
Conclusion: The results highlight that oribatid mite community structures are impacted by aboveground plants. This research provides a reference for future researchers to help understand the biotic interactions between soil oribatid mites and plants.

Key words: biodiversity, BEF-China, soil oribatid mite, community structure, seasonal dynamics, environment factor

Yannan Chen, Cheng Liang, Jun Chen. The composition of the community structure of oribatid mites in subtropical forests of different tree species: A case study of Xingangshan, Jiangxi Province[J]. Biodiv Sci, 2022, 30(12): 22334.

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URL: https://www.biodiversity-science.net/EN/10.17520/biods.2022334

https://www.biodiversity-science.net/EN/Y2022/V30/I12/22334

Figures/Tables 6

Table 1 The tree species of site A and site B

A样地 Site A	B样地 Site B
青榨槭 Acer davidii	臭椿 Ailanthus altissima
米槠 Castanopsis carlesii	拟赤杨 Alniphyllum fortune
南酸枣 Choerospondias axillaris	光皮桦 Betula luminifera
细叶青冈 Cyclobalanopsis myrsinifolia	丝栗栲 Castanopsis fargesii
复羽叶栾树 Koelreuteria bipinnata	黄果朴 Celtis Biondi
枫香 Liquidambar formosana	华杜英 Elaeocarpus chinensis
苦楝 Melia azedarach	秃瓣杜英 E. glabripetalus
蓝果树 Nyssa sinensis	薯豆 E. japonicus
麻栎 Quercus acutissima	山桐子 Idesia polycarpa
白栎 Q. fabri	黄绒润楠 Machilus grijsii
短柄枹栎 Q. serrata	红楠 M. thunbergii
盐肤木 Rhus chinensis	华东楠 M. leptophylla
无患子 Sapindus Saponaria	乳源木莲 Manglietia yuyuanensis
山乌桕 Triadica cochinchinensis	垂枝泡花树 Meliosma flexuosa
乌桕 T. sebifera	闽楠 Phoebe bournei
锥栗 Castanea henryi	乌冈栎 Quercus phillyraeoides

Fig. 1 Community composition of oribatid mites in forests composited by different tree species. From outside circle to inside. The left side of the first circle is the name of Oribatida, the right side of the first circle is BEF-China. The second circle is percentage scale label (from 0?100%). The third circle is the family name and the site, the width of the line indicates the abundance of mites. We grouped the oribatid mite abundance less than 100 as others.

Fig. 2 Community structure and ecological indices of soil oribatid mites in different tree composition forest. A, Non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) analysis showing the community composition of site A and site B. Ellipses represent the standard deviation around the centroids of each sampling site, red crosses refer to the lepidopteran oribatid mite species in each community. B, C, D, The difference of oribatid mites diversity between site A and site B. Boxes and whiskers represent the data distribution about the median, filled circles represent extreme values.

Fig. 3 Seasonal dynamics of oribatid mite communities in different type forest. Different lower case letters showed significant difference among four seasons at the 0.05 level.

Fig. 4 Seasonal vertical distribution of oribatid mites in different type forest. Different letters showed significant difference among four seasons at the 0.05 level. Upper represent the 0-10 cm soil layer, and Lower was the 10-20 cm soil layer.

Fig. 5 Pearson correlation analysis of the abundance of oribatid mites and environmental factors, and Mantel test of oribatid mites community and environmental factors in site A and site B. CWM_CN, Community weighted mean C/N ratio; CWM_NP, Community weighted mean N/P ratio; CWM_CP, Community weighted mean C/P ratio; CWM_Ca, Community weighted mean calcium content; CWM_M, Community weighted mean lignin content; S_Temp, Soil temperature; S_Humi, Soil humidity; S_LT, Soil litter thickness; S_Ca, Soil calcium content; S_pH, Soil pH value; S_NP, Soil N/P ratio; S_CP, Soil C/P ratio; S_CN, Soil C/N ratio.

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