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Relationship between land use pattern and the structure and diversity of soil meso–micro arthropod community

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Abstract

Soil arthropod communities can provide valuable information regarding the impacts of human disturbances on ecosystem structure. Our study evaluated the structure, composition and diversity of soil meso–micro arthropod communities, in six different vegetation types and assessed the impacts of human activity. A completely randomized design, including 3 replicates from 6 sites (mowing steppe, natural grassland, severe degradation grassland, farmland, artificial shelter forest, and wetland) was used. Soil samples from the depth of 0 to 20 cm were collected during May, July, and September 2007. Soil meso–micro arthropod were separated using the Tullgren funnels method, and were identified and counted. Soil pH value, organic matter, and total nitrogen were measured in topsoil (0–20 cm) from each site. A total of 5,602 soil meso–micro arthropod individuals were collected, representing 4 classes, 14 orders, and 57 families. Most soil arthropods were widely distributed; however, some species appeared to be influenced by environment variables, and might serve as bioindicators of adverse human impacts. Canonical correspondence analysis indicated the soil arthropod distribution in the severely degraded grassland, mowing steppe, farmland, and shelter forest differed from the natural grassland. Arthropod density and diversity were greatest in May, and the forestland community was the most stable. Because of the vital role soil arthropods have in maintaining a healthy ecosystem, mechanisms to maintain their abundance and diversity should be further evaluated.

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Acknowledgments

The project was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 41101048; 41371072), the Postdoctoral Science Foundation of China (No. 2013M541407), the Postdoctoral Science Foundation of Heilongjiang Province, Municipal Science Foundation of Harbin (No. 2011RFXXN039) and Program for the Science and Technology Innovation Team in Universities and Colleges of Heilongjiang Province.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Monitoring of Geographic Environment, College of Heilongjiang Province, Harbin Normal University, Harbin, 150025, People’s Republic of China

    Limin Zhang & Xueping Zhang

  2. State Key Laboratory of Advanced Welding and Joining, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150001, People’s Republic of China

    Wei Cui

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  1. Limin Zhang
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  2. Xueping Zhang
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  3. Wei Cui
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Correspondence to Xueping Zhang.

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Zhang, L., Zhang, X. & Cui, W. Relationship between land use pattern and the structure and diversity of soil meso–micro arthropod community. Ecotoxicology 23, 707–717 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10646-014-1186-x

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