Title: Nematode Abundance Under Different Vegetations Restored on Degraded Red Soil
Abstract: This study was conducted from May 1999 to February 2000 in a long term revegetation experiment established in 1989 in Yujiang County (28°15′30″N, 116°55′30″E ), Jiangxi Province, China. The tested area, characterized by a warm wet spring and a hot dry summer, is a typical subtropical monsoon region with annual temperature of 17 8℃, and precipitation and evaporation of 1700mm and 1359mm, respectively. The soil type in the experimental station is red soil (Ultisol) derived from Quaternary red clay. Soil nematodes were investigated seasonally with four kinds of artificially restored woodlands, including deciduous broadleaf woodland ( Quercus chenii, Qc), evergreen broadleaf woodland ( Schima superba, Ss ), coniferous woodland (Pinus massonina, Pm), and coniferous broadleaf mixed woodland ( Schima superba Pinus massonina, Sm), and two grasslands, i.e. slightly disturbed grassland (G1) and undisturbed grassland (G2). Nematode abundance differentiated distinctly under different vegetations, which was in the order of G2G1PmQcSsSm. Nematodes showed obvious seasonal fluctuations. In general, nematode abundance was relatively high in spring and winter, followed by in autumn, and was lowest in summer. The dual depression of high temperature and low soil moisture was attributable to the sharp decrease of nematode population in summer. Based on variation coefficients of mean abundance, the lowest nematode community stability was found in Pm. Nematode abundance showed clear stratification with depth, which was in the order of 0~5cm5~10cm10~20cm. Correlation analysis demonstrated that nematode abundance was highly positively correlated with soil organic C, total N, available N, available P, soil microbial biomass C, soil microbial biomass N, potential mineralizable C, potential mineralizable N, basal respiration, invertase, urease and acid phosphatase in top soil ( P 0 01). However, it had no relationship with soil moisture, bulk density, clay content, sand content and available K. The overall discrimination of nematode communities under different vegetations could be drawn from Canonical Discriminant Analysis and three groups were identified including the 1st group (G1 and G2) with the highest nematode abundance and the 2nd group (Qc, Ss and Sm) with the lowest nematode abundance, and the 3rd group (Pm). In addition, nematode community stability of the 1st and 2nd group was similar and higher than that of the 3rd group. It is concluded that nematode abundance is a potential indicator of red soil quality. The complex relationships between nematodes and soil moisture and vegetation types were also discussed.
Publication Year: 2002
Publication Date: 2002-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
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Cited By Count: 5
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