Dynamics of soil arthropod communities in the annual cultivated Gramineae grasslands in alpine region, Northwest Sichuan.

Abstract

The dynamics of soil arthropod communities in annual monoculture grasslands is still unclear, which restricts the understanding of the degradation mechanism of cultivated grasslands. We cultivated two annual gramineae species, Lolium multiflorum and Avena sativa, separately in Hongyuan County, located on the eastern edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, in April 2019. We investigated soil arthropods, plant communities and soil properties in the cultivated grasslands and natural grassland in the late September every year from 2019 to 2022. The results showed that: 1) The taxonomic composition of soil arthropod communities differed significantly among three grasslands and sampling years. 2) There was no significant difference in the density, taxonomic richness, Shannon index and evenness index of soil arthropod communities among three grasslands. 3) The density of soil arthropod communities significantly fluctuated across years in three grasslands, and the taxonomic richness and Shannon index decreased significantly in the L. multiflorum and A. sativa grasslands, with the evenness index declining significantly only in the fourth year. The Shannon index fluctuated significantly and the evenness index varied little in natural grassland. 4) The above- and below-ground biomass, the contents of soil total P, total K and available N were the main factors influencing the taxonomic composition, density and diversity indices of soil arthropod communities. The results suggested that the cultivation of annual gramineae grasslands have significant effects on taxonomic composition, but not on density and diversity of soil arthropod communities, and those variables change significantly across different years.