Interaction And Ecological Function Of Arcarina, Collembola And Nematoda In Litter Layer

As an important integrant of forest ecological system,soil animals are indispensable to its nutrient cycling and energy flowing.Since the diversity and complication of the soil animals interactions,so the ecological function of the soil animals is far more clearly.As a significant ecological layer in forest ecosystems,there are numerous soil animals in the litter layer.Among the soil animals in litter layer,Arcarina,Collembola and Nematoda take an absolute advantage.But how about their interaction with each other and their ecological functions are still indistinct.The research on these ecological processes plays a key part in revealing the role of the soil animals to the litter decomposition and understanding many ecological processes of terrestrial ecosystems.This study chosen soil animals in litter layer of Castanopsis fargesii forest at Tiantong,Zhejiang province,especially Arcarina,Collembola,and Nematoda to explore their interaction with each other and ecological functions.We also studied and summarized the indoor feeding and inoculation of Arcarina,Collembola,and Nematoda.An all-round four-season investigation was conducted into the soil animal communities in the litter of Castanopsis fargesii forest. Samples were taken in the litter in accordance with fresh litter layer(L),fermentation layer(F) and humus layer(H).The research results are as follows:1.On the feeding of Arcarina,the temperature and moisture in the incubator should be kept around 20℃and 70%.And it is necessary to keep the feeding container moderately wet.Due to its strong reproductive capacity and adaptability,so when the number of the Arcarina in the feeding container is too many,it is should be separated.2.0n the feeding of Collembola,the feeding environment should be as natural as possible.It is feasible to use litter not yeast for food in order to get rid of yeast's mold.3.The soil animal communities in the litter of Castanopsis fargesii forest1)Compared to former soil animal communities investigations in the litter of Castanopsis fargesii forest,common groups were obviously different:the percentage of common groups in the total number increased from 2.14% to 8.83%.The percentage of dominant groups(Arcarina and Collembola) decreased from 95.64% to 86.27%. The value of A/C decreased from 4.23 to 2.81.2)In the four-season investigation,about 58.77% soil animals lived in the humus layer(H).In spring,soil animals in the litter had the highest level in groups number,Density-Group index (DG),Simpson dominant index (D) and Margalef abundance index(R).3)The value of A/C reflected the interaction between Arcarina and Collembola in some degree.In the three stage of the litter decomposition,the value of A/C was 5.47, 4.07 and 2.17 respectively. This showed that with the intensification of the litter decomposition,the value decreased and the number of Collembola relatively increased.4.The total number and groups number had obvious difference in the different stage of litter decomposition of Castanopsis fargesii forest. The groups number of the early stage, the middle stage and late stage was 18,20,24 respectively. In four seasons, The number of soil animals in the three stage was 3113,7456,15080 respectively. That is to say, with the intensification of the litter decomposition, the number and groups number of the soil animals all appeared an increasing trend.5.Total nitrogen, total phosphorus and pH value had no obvious difference among the three stage of litter decomposition.The pH value of the litter and the matrix soil kept about 4.0-5.0.The density of soil animals had no correlation with pH value.