ALTITUDE VERSUS VEGETATION AS THE FACTORS INFLUENCING THE DIVERSITY AND ABUNDANCE OF EARTHWORMS AND OTHER SOIL MACROFAUNA IN MONTANE HABITAT (SILESIAN BESKID MTS, WESTERN CARPATHIANS)

作者：Rozen Anna^*; Myslajek Robert W; Sobczyk Lukasz

来源：Polish Journal of Ecology, 2013, 61(1): 145-156.

• elevational gradient
• soil invertebrates
• macrofauna
• earthworms
• biodiversity
• density

The search for global regularities governing the biodiversity of living organisms has a long history, and altitudinal gradients have explanatory power. To determine whether soil animals exhibit altitudinal gradients of abundance and diversity and to assess the impact of plant communities (meadows and forests) on any observed patterns, we studied soil invertebrates along an altitudinal gradient of 500-1000 m a.s.l. in the Silesian Beskid Mts (Western Carpathians). Ten study plots were established in three vegetation zones in meadows and also forested sites (spruce, beech, oak-hornbeam, riparian). In spring, summer and autumn of 2004, 2005 and 2006, five soil samples (20 x 20 x 25 cm) were dug from every study plot on each occasion and invertebrates were separated from the soil by hand-sorting. Earthworms were identified to species, and other invertebrates to higher taxa. The two types of plant associations studied (meadow, forest) differed significantly in the population density and biomass of soil invertebrates - earthworms were more numerous in meadows (132.3 ind. m(-2) in meadows and 24 ind. m(-2) in forests) and other invertebrates in forests (57.7 ind. m(-2) in meadows and 67.4 ind. m(-2) in forests). Density tended to be higher in summer than in other seasons, and at minimum in autumn. Meadows of foothills and the lower montane zone were richest in earthworm species (7 species). Upper montane meadow, upper montane spruce forest and lower montane beech forest were poorest in earthworms (2 species). The most abundant animals among other invertebrates were larvae of Coleoptera and Diptera. Coleoptera larvae dominated at higher altitudes. The density and biomass of earthworms in meadows correlated negatively with elevation (density, r = -0.52, biomass r = -0.66). The corresponding correlations for other invertebrates were much weaker (density, r=-0.32; biomass, r = -0.31). The diversity of earthworms tended to decrease with altitude in meadows. Sites at higher elevations were poorer in species of both earthworms and other invertebrates. For both earthworms and other invertebrates in spruce forest there were no differences in biodiversity indices along the altitudinal gradient.

• 出版日期2013