Welcome to Acta Prataculturae Sinica ! Today is Share:

Acta Prataculturae Sinica ›› 2022, Vol. 31 ›› Issue (2): 62-75.DOI: 10.11686/cyxb2021309

Previous Articles     Next Articles

Effects of grazing modes on the community structure and diversity of soil arthropod in an alpine meadow on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

Cai-cai SUN(), Quan-min DONG, Wen-ting LIU, Bin FENG, Guang SHI, Yu-zhen LIU, Yang YU, Chun-ping ZHANG, Xiao-fang ZHANG, Cai-di LI, Zeng-zeng YANG, Xiao-xia YANG()   

  1. Academy of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine,Qinghai University,Qinghai Provincial Key Laboratory of Adaptive Management on Alpine Grassland,Xining 810016,China
  • Received:2021-08-11 Revised:2021-09-27 Online:2022-02-20 Published:2021-12-22
  • Contact: Xiao-xia YANG

Abstract:

Soil arthropods are an important component of the soil ecosystem and have been used as “indicators” of environmental change, because of their sensitivity to changes in the surrounding environment. Grazing is the main use of alpine grassland in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Grazing affects both the physical and chemical properties of the soil, and also the biodiversity, including soil arthropods. This research investigated changes in the soil arthropod community structure and diversity associated with grazing by different animal species. Soil arthropods were sampled in July 2020 from a grazing experiment in an alpine meadow on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. The grazing experiment included two single-species grazing treatments (yak only and Tibetan sheep only; YG, SG), three mixed-grazing (MG) treatments (yak: Tibetan sheep ratios of 1∶2, 1∶4 and 1∶6) and an ungrazed control treatment (CK). Soil samples were collected from 0-5 cm, 5-10 cm, and 10-15 cm soil depths, and the soil arthropods were separated by the dry funnel (Tullgren) method, identified, and the data statistically analysed. It was found that: 1) Of the total sampled soil arthropod population, 36.67% belonged to the taxonomic family Acaroidae and 41.14% belonged to the family Oiibatida. The highest densities of arthropods were found in the 0-5 cm soil layer. 2) The composition, community structure, density and diversity of the soil arthropod communities differed between the animal species grazing treatments. Compared with the control , grazing decreased the proportion of Acaroidae, but increased the proportion of Oiibatida in the soil arthropod population. There were significant differences in soil arthropod community structure between CK plots and grazed plots. The species richness index, diversity index and the number of soil arthropods were highest, and the evenness index was lowest in the Tibetan sheep grazing treatment. 3) Soil arthropod evenness index was negatively correlated with soil total nitrogen, total carbon and available potassium (P<0.05 or P<0.01), but positively correlated with soil organic matter and pH (P<0.05 or P<0.01); soil arthropod richness index was negatively correlated with soil pH, but positively correlated with soil total nitrogen, available nitrogen and organic matter contents. Soil arthropod diversity index was negatively correlated with soil pH, but positively correlated with soil total nitrogen, available nitrogen, available phosphorus and organic matter contents. The mean density and the number of groups of soil arthropods were negatively correlated with soil pH, but positively correlated with soil total nitrogen, available nitrogen, available potassium and organic matter. 4) Soil total nitrogen, total phosphorus, total carbon, available nitrogen and available phosphorus levels were higher in the SG treatment. Available phosphorus and organic matter were highest in the CK plots. Soil water content and pH were highest in the MG1:6 treatment. In summary, only Tibetan sheep grazing had a positive effect in increasing soil arthropod density, community composition and community diversity in the alpine grassland ecosystem of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau.

Key words: alpine meadow, grazing modes, soil arthropods, community structure and diversity