The distribution pattern of soil macrofauna at the forest-steppe ecotone of the southernmost boreal forest (Eastern Kazakhstan)
Keywords:
Abundance, activity density, community, macroarthropodsAbstract
We determined the activity density, population density and family-level diversity of surface-active and soil-inhabiting macrofauna in the forest interior, forest edge and steppe habitats in eastern Kazakhstan, and asked whether there were differences in their assemblages that reflected the soil properties and habitat disturbance (livestock grazing). Overall abundances of the macroarthropod assemblages were similar in most study sites, being significantly different for only some groups, such as Araneae, Chilopoda, Diplopoda, Scarabaeidae and Silphidae. The population densities of soil-inhabiting animals were relatively higher in the forest interior than in the forest edge and steppe. The soil water content has little influence on the total activity density of surface-active macroarthropods or on the population density of soil-inhabiting macrofauna, but we observed significant correlations between soil water content and the activity density of a few individual groups of surface-active arthropods (Carabidae, Staphylinidae, Scarabaeidae, Silphidae). Similar relationships were observed between soil water content and the population density of some soil-inhabiting groups of macrofauna (Araneae, Chilopoda, Curculionidae). The overall activity density of surface-active macroarthropods showed a slight negative correlation with soil bulk density, but significant relationships were found for only some groups (Staphylinidae, Silphidae, Scarabaeidae). The soil bulk density showed no significant relationship with the population density of any group of the soil-inhabiting macrofauna. We could not prove an influence of grazing intensity on the soil macrofauna, because differences in grazing intensity between study sites were not significant.
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