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Composition and spatio-temporal changes of soil macroinvertebrates in the biodiversity hotspot of northern Hengduanshan Mountains, China

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Abstract

Aims

The aim of this study was to analyze the composition and spatio-temporal variation of soil macroinvertebrate communities in the northern Hengduanshan Mountains, Southwest China.

Methods

The soil macroinvertebrates were investigated in April, August and November of 2008 in two deciduous broad-leaved forests: secondary shrub forest (SSF) and Betula albosinensis forest (BSF), two coniferous forests: Picea asperata plantation (PAP) and Abies fabri and Larix kaempferi mixed forest (ALF), a coniferous (A. fabri) and broad leaf (B. albosinensis) mixed forest (ABF) and a subalpine meadow (SM) at elevations of 2659 to 3845 m.

Results

The soil macroinvertebrate community showed typical zonal characteristics compared with other localities in China. It comprised at least 113 taxa and was dominated by Insects (43.33%, mainly Coleoptera and Diptera), followed by Diplopoda (16.37%), Malacostraca (14.31%), Oligochaeta (12.71%) and Chilopoda (6.67%). Abundances of each taxa showed clear differences among habitats. Community abundance ranged from 71.56 individuals/m2 in the PAP to 148.00 individuals/m2 in the SM. The composition and structure of the soil macroinvertebrate communities varied among the six habitats and changed with the sampling periods. The richness, abundance and Shannon index of soil macroinvertebrate communities were significantly different among habitats, but not between sampling periods. Significant temporal responses in abundance were recorded in the SSF and BSF and the Shannon index for the SM. Further analysis showed that the abundance of the seven taxonomic groups also differed significantly among habitats, but that sampling period only had significant effects on a few taxonomic groups. Patterns of temporal variation in abundance differed among the seven taxonomic groups, even when the same taxa also differed markedly among habitat types. On the whole, these temporal variations in abundance on community and taxa group levels were greater in the SSF and BSF than in the PAP, ABF, ALF and the SM. However, the habitat had a stronger effect on soil macroinvertebrates than the sampling period. Moreover, a significant correlation was found between the abundance, richness and Shannon index of soil macroinvertebrate community and plant species richness, but not with soil properties or elevation. Additionally, more taxonomic groups were significantly influenced by the litter mass and plant coverage, but few with soil properties.

Conclusions

Plant community was the main environmental determinant influencing macroinvertebrate distribution in ecosystem of the northern Hengduanshan Mountains and presented a greater effect on the soil macroinvertebrates than soil properties or elevation. The temporal effects on soil macroinvertebrates were stronger in the deciduous broad-leaved forests than in the coniferous forests.

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Acknowledgments

We thank all people who helped during the fieldwork, especially Daxing Yang, Xiaofei Yu, Jingen Xu and Peng Yin. We thank Prof. Shenlei Fu of the South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Jingxin Wang of West Virginia University, Division of Forestry and Natural Resources for technical assistance in writing the manuscript. The comments of two anonymous reviewers helped to improve the manuscript. This work was supported by the Young Scientist Program of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (40801092), the Youth Foundation and State Key Project of Science and Technology of Sichuan Province (2012JQ0030, 2010SZ0126), Key Science and Technology Financing Projects of the Ministry of Education (209154), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (11NZYTH01) and the Postgraduate degree construction program of Southwest University for Nationalities (2011XWD-S071012).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Life Science and Technology, Southwest University for Nationalities, Chengdu, 610041, China

    Pengfei Wu

  2. Institute of Forest Ecology, Environment and Protection, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing, 100091, China

    Shirong Liu

  3. Institute of Forest Ecology and Environmental Resources, Sichuan Academy of Forestry, Chengdu, 610081, China

    Xingliang Liu

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  1. Pengfei Wu
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Correspondence to Pengfei Wu or Shirong Liu.

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Appendix A

Appendix A

Table 7 List of taxa, mean abundance (ind. m−2) (n = 18) and percentage (%) of soil macroinvertebrates collected at every study site during one year of the study. The total of richness (number of different taxa) and abundance (ind. m−2) of each site are also indicated.
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Wu, P., Liu, S. & Liu, X. Composition and spatio-temporal changes of soil macroinvertebrates in the biodiversity hotspot of northern Hengduanshan Mountains, China. Plant Soil 357, 321–338 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-012-1166-y

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