Changes among soil nematode community characteristics in relation to different vegetation restoration practices in the moderate degraded grasslands of Songnen
Abstract:The grassland of Songnen plain has being moderate degraded. Two vegetation restoration practices were applied in the degraded grassland: fencing enclosure, planting alfalfa. The overgrazing was used as a control treatment. Soil samples of three treatments were taken from May to October in 2005. The soil nematodes were collected from soil using sugar flotation and centrifugation method. A total of 13713 soil nematodes were identified to the genus level, which consisted of 2 classes, 7 orders, 24 families, and 40 genera. The ecological index such as Species richness, abundance, diversity index and trophic group index were analyzed. The three dominant groups, Rotylenchus、Aphelenchus and Criconema, accounted for 52.95% of the total individuals. The individual density was 113 inds. per 100 gram dry soil. The considerable difference of the number of groups and individuals varied with soil profile were found among three treatments. In the overgrazed site, the nematodes distributed evenly in the soil in both samples collected in July and October. Because there were intensively grazing activity during summer and autumn, more nematodes appeared in the lower layer of the soil profile. These results illustrated that the types of vegetation restoration significantly affected the species abundance and diversity, and could improve the structure and functioning of soil nematode community. The characteristics of the functional structure of the nematode communities under different types of vegetation restoration were analyzed by using MI (Maturity Index),PPI (Plant Parasite Index),∑MI index and PPI/MI value while Shannon-Wiener index, Pielou index, and Margalef index were also used in analyzing the diversity of the nematode community. The results also showed that ∑MI and PPI were the more sensitive parameters to monitor the changes under differeent vegetation restoration practices. Planting alfalfa and over grazing considerably changed the ratio of r- and k- plant parasite nematodes. In grasslands of Songnen plain,fencing enclosure maybe efficently restores the moderate degraded pasture in comparision with planting alfalfa.