Investigation on the Community Structure and Diversity of Soil Fauna at the Different Altitudes of Yamalik Mountain in Urumqi

In order to reveal the impact of different altitudes on the community structure,diversity and sea-sonal dynamics of soil animals,the soil animal communities structure,diversity and seasonal dynamics were investigated at six different altitude habitats along an altitudinal gradient in the Yamalik mountain from U-rumqi in April,July and May,2009.Analysis of community structure indices were conducted to use the community diversity indices,hierarchical cluster MDS methods.A total of 7 375 individuals belonging to 6 phyla,16 classes and 36 orders(groups) of soil animals were collected respectively.Results showed:Acari-formes(52.28%) and Collembola(15.61%) were the dominant groups of soil fauna,and they were accounting for 67.89% of the total individuals collected,while Tricladida,Parasiformes,Hymenoptera,Dorylaimida,Ty-lenchida,Diptera larvae,Coleoptera,and Hemiptera were common groups,and these 8 groups were account-ing for 25.35% of the total individuals collected,the others were belong to rare groups which accounting for 6.76%.With increasing altitude,both of the individual number and the density of soil fauna decreased.The sequence of total density was:transect Atransect Btransect Ctransect Etransect Dtransect F,and the sequence of group number was:transect Atransect Btransect Ctransect Dtransect Etransect F.As for the vertical distribution,the individual densities and group numbers mainly lived in the layer of 0~5 cm in the soil profile,and vegetation type considerably change the composition of the soil fauna community.How-ever,there was significant differences both in the group numbers and individuals of soil animals among the six different altitudes(P0.05).The seasonal dynamics of soil animal is higher in September than others(P0.01).There were significant differences between the diversity indices of soil animal community at the dif-ferent altitude habitats(P0.05).The diversity indices(H,E,C,M,and ED) of soil animal communities at six different altitudes were also analyzed.The cluster result of soil animal community in six different alti-tudes could be classified into the summit habitat type,mountain slope habitat type and mountain downhill habitat type.The community parameters of soil animals had different responses to the upland habitats,the different altitudes,aboveground vegetation structure and disturbance degree of soil surface perhaps influ-enced the ecological distribution and structure of soil animal community.