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Vol. 49 No. 6, 2010
Community Characteristics of Soil Ciliates at Baiyun
Mountain, Guangzhou, China
Jing
Li1, Ming-Guang Li1, Jian Yang2, Ying
Ai3, and Run-Lin Xu1,*
1School
of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China
2South China Institute of Environmental Science,
Guangzhou 510655, China
3Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of
Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China
Jing Li,
Ming-Guang Li, Jian Yang, Ying Ai, and Run-Lin Xu (2010) We
investigated the relationships between the soil ciliate community and
environmental factors at 7 different habitats at Baiyun Mountain,
Guangzhou, southern China. The abundance, dominance,
biodiversity, colpodid/polyhymenophoran (C/P) ratio, and community
similarity of soil ciliates were investigated using qualitative and
quantitative analyses. We found a total of 114 species of
ciliates belonging to 9 classes, 18 orders, and 47 genera. The
1st dominant group (i.e., the group richest in species) was the
Spirotrichea, followed by the Colpodea, with dominance values of 38.6%
and 21.93%, respectively. The highest abundance of ciliates was
found in winter at site 5 (with representative vegetation of Tetradium
ruticarpum Hartley), reaching 3.87 × 104 individuals (ind.)/g, and the
lowest in spring at site 2 (with representative vegetation of Schima
superba Gardn. et Champ.) at 9.2 × 102 ind./g. Margalef,s
richness index ranged 2.07-5.46. Statistical analyses
demonstrated that ciliate abundances were positively correlated with
soil moisture, organic matter, ammonia-nitrogen, total nitrogen, and
total phosphorus, but negatively correlated with total potassium.
Soil pH, nitrate-nitrogen, and sulfate showed insignificant
effects. Analyses of C/P ratios and diversity indices implied
that habitat conditions of sites 2 and 7 were relatively unfavorable
for soil protozoa.
Key words: Biodiversity,
Colpodid/Polyhymenophoran ratio, Community structure, Habitat, Soil
ciliates.
*Correspondence: Tel: 86-20-84113185.
E-mail:xurunlin_1960@yahoo.com
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