Soil fauna distribution and diversity in moss communities in Zhalong National Nature Reserve Wetland
扎龙湿地苔藓群落土壤动物的分布及多样性

A survey was conducted to study the ecological characteristics of soil animals in moss plant communities in Zhalong National Nature Reserve Wetland during April-May 2007and April-May 2008. The results showed that 22 groups and 7 384 soil animals were obtained, including 2 788 large-size soil animals and 4 596 small/medium-size soil animals in the communities, belonging to 4 phyla, 7 classes, 17 orders and 25 families. The dominant groups were Namatoda, Enchytraoidae and Formicidae, and the common groups were Rotifear, Coleoptera, Coleoptera-Larvae, Acarina, Diptera-Larvae, Neanuridae and Opiliones. The vertical distribution of soil animals declined with the increase of depth of soil layer. The diversity of soil animals was higher in 2007 than 2008, but the groups and numbers of soil animals in 2008 was higher than 2007. The diversity index and the richness index changed coincidently, while the evenness index and the dominance index changed indistinctly.