Community Characteristics of Soil Ciliates at Baiyun Mountain, Guangzhou, 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.
Keywords
Biodiversity, Colpodid/Polyhymenophoran ratio, Community structure, Habitat, Soil ciliates.
