Abstract
We examined the soil fauna community composition and structure of Poyang Lake beach wetlands using the modified Tullgren and Baermann methods during September and December 2015. A total of 3755 individuals were obtained from 2 samplings, which were found to belong to 7 classes, 8 orders, 3 suborders, and 17 families. Among these, the Oribatida, Prostigmata, Nematoda, and Onychiuridae were dominant. The functional groups of soil animals included omnivores, saprozoics, predators, and phytophages. Analysis results of the soil fauna composition and diversity showed that the soil animals were mainly concentrated at the 0-10 cm depth, presenting as a significant surface convergence phenomenon. The numbers of individual soil animals differed significantly between sampling sites (P < 0.05), with the beach wetland in Lianhu Township having the highest numbers of individuals and groups. The effect of water level variability on numbers of soil animals was not significant (P > 0.05). Habitat type and sampling time both had highly significant effects on diversity and evenness (P < 0.01), and significant effects on species richness (P < 0.05). During water level changes in Poyang Lake, the individual number, group number, and diversity of the soil animals were closely linked to the sampling site. These results provide basic data for further studies on soil fauna ecology in Poyang Lake beach wetlands.
Highlights
Wetland ecosystems have characteristics of both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems
The water subsides and beaches emerge, forming a large number of shallow depressions and strands. This area of 2698 km2 accounts for 82% of the total normal water level area of the lake (Wang et al, 2011; Dong et al, 2014); it is an important habitat for global winter migratory birds and plays a critical role in maintaining biodiversity (Zhao et al, 2007)
Physical and chemical properties of soil, such as temperature, water content, pH, organic carbon content, total nitrogen content, and vegetation coverage constitute the soil habitat. These factors affect the composition of the soil fauna community and can be responsible for uneven distribution (Murray et al, 2006; Lu et al, 2013; Zhu and Zhu, 2015)
Summary
Wetland ecosystems have characteristics of both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Their complex structure enables them to provide a variety of habitats for the growth of animals and plants (Keddy, 2010). As an important freshwater resource pool in China, it is an ecological conservation library of global significance (Hui et al, 2008). The Poyang Lake wetlands change with seasonal variations in flood levels, and various types of habitats form during the process (Liu et al, 2011). These have developed a variety of wetland soils with abundant biodiversity (Liu et al, 2011; Wu et al, 2012; Zhang et al, 2012; Liang et al, 2015; Yang et al, 2015)
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