The abundance and community structure of soil arthropods in reclaimed coastal saline soil of managed poplar plantations

Abstract

Establishing poplar plantations is a common practice for improving the quality of reclaimed coastal saline soils in Eastern China. The abundance and diversity of arthropods can reflect changes in soil quality. However, the extent to which intensive forest management serves to alter soil arthropod communities remains elusive. In this study, we examined the effects of applying organic fertilizers (OF) and removing understory plants (UP) (two common practices to promote poplar growth) on the abundance and diversity of soil arthropods of poplar plantations in a reclaimed coastal area of Northern Jiangsu Province, China. We found that the OF addition significantly increased the total abundance of soil arthropods, and the abundance of Macrophytophages, Microphytophages and Omnivorous Acari, but decreased the total evenness. The removal of UP did not significantly influence the abundance and diversity of soil arthropods in the 0–20 cm soil layer. Our results suggested that the OF addition is a preferable management practice to UP removal in order to elevate the abundance of soil arthropods while promoting poplar plantation productivity.