Publikationsdatum:
2018-03-16
Beschreibung:
Changes in microclimate, soil physicochemical properties, understory vegetation cover, diversity, and composition as well as soil microbial community resulting from silvicultural practices are expected to alter soil food webs. Here, we investigated whether and how contrasting-sized canopy openings affect soil nematode community within a 30 year-aged spruce plantation. The results indicated that the responses of soil nematodes to canopy opening size were dependant on their feeding habit. The abundance of total nematodes and that of free-living nematodes was negatively correlated with soil bulk density, whereas the abundance of omnivore–predators was negatively correlated with soil bulk density and shrubs cover, respectively. The ratio of the sum abundance of predators and omnivores to the plant parasites’ abundance, Simpson's dominance index, Pielou's evenness index, and sigma maturity index, maturity index (MI), MI 2-5 , basal index, enrichment index, and structure index was sensitive to alteration in canopy opening size. Multivariate analysis indicated that thinning-induced gap size resulted in contrasting nematode assemblages. In conclusion, soil nematodes should be integrated as an indicator to monitor soil multifunctionality change due to thinning. The responses of soil nematodes to gap size varied with the guilds of nematodes. Fine root biomass was positively related to abundance of total nematodes and plant parasites, while total microbial biomass, gap size, and soil water content were positively correlated to omnivore–predators abundance. The Pielou's evenness index, structure index, and the ratio of predatory to parasites were sensitive to gap size change. Means with the same letter are not different at the 5% level of significance based on the Tukey’s honestly significant difference tests.
Digitale ISSN:
2045-7758
Thema:
Biologie
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