Effects of natural forest conversion and plantation tree species composition on soil macrofauna communities in Northeast China mountains

As primary and secondary forests are being replaced by plantations across the globe,the soil macrofauna community structure is also affected,but little is known about the impact of mixed culture plantations compared with monocultures on the soil macrofauna.To determine the impact of forest conversion on soil macrofauna,we surveyed the soil macrofauna in two broad-leaved and three coniferous monoculture stands and four coniferous-broadleaved mixed stands,and in adjacent reserved secondary stands as a reference.Soil macro fauna community composition was significant affected by forest type,season and their interaction(P<0.05).The abundance,taxa richness and diversity of soil macro fauna changed to different degrees depending on the plantation type.Broadleaved monoculture stands and secondary stands had similar macrofauna abundance and taxa richness,but values were lower in coniferous stands than in secondary stands.The Shannon index for macrofauna in coniferous stands was also the lowest,but the Pielou index did not differ between forest types.The negative effects of the conifer monoculture on soil macro fauna were not present in the mixed stands with broad-leaved trees.Forest conversion impacted soil properties;soil moisture,NO_(3)^(-),and pH were significant drivers of soil macrofauna community structure.The impact of forest conversion on soil macrofauna was closely dependent on tree species composition and diversity.The macro fauna community structure in the broadleaved and the mixed stands were relatively similar to that in the natural forest,and thus recommended for forest conversion in the study area.

Soil macrofaunal communities develop a habitat-specific trophic structure dependent on the degree of degradation of alpine wetlands

The alpine wetlands in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau have degraded in recent decades.However,the response of the soil food web to the degradation is still unclear.Four habitats including a wet meadow(WM),a grassland meadow(GM),a moderately degraded meadow(MDM)and a severely degraded meadow(SDM)(sandy meadows)were selected along the degrees of degradation.The soil macrofaunal biomass and the environmental factors of vegetation and soil were investigated.The soil macrofaunal community biomass increased significantly from WMto MDM and decreasedto a very small amount in SDM,with most taxa disappearing.The biomass of the trophic groups of detritivores,herbivores and predators exhibited similar responses to soil macrofaunal communities.The relative biomass of detritivores increased from WM to MDM,but herbivores responded in an opposite manner,resulting in the dominant trophic group and trophic structure varying progressively from WM to GM to MDM.Soil properties but not vegetation determined the changes in trophic groups and trophic structure.The results implied that the higher trophic levels(carnivores or omnivores)responded more sensitively than the lower trophic levels(herbivores)to alpine wetland degradation.Our results also suggested that soil macrofauna have a habitat-specific characteristic trophic structure and can be used as indicators of soil health conditions.