Community structure of soil nematodes under different drought conditions

Publication date: 1 September 2018
Source:Geoderma, Volume 325
Author(s): Dengming Yan, Denghua Yan, Xinshan Song, Zhilei Yu, Dou Peng, Xu Ting, Baisha Weng
The study aims to investigate the effects of different drought treatments on the distribution of soil nematode community under the background of global warming. Light drought, moderate drought, severe drought treatments and control plot were set in the experiment. Experimental results showed that a total of 32 genera of nematodes from 18 families were identified under the four drought treatments, including 13 genera of bacterivores, 10 genera of plant-parasites, 4 genera of fungivores and 5 genera of omnivores-predators. Eucephalobus and Helicotylenchus were dominant genera under drought treatments. The quantity, genera and diversity of soil nematodes in drought treatments were significantly lower than those in control plots. The structure of the nematode community degenerated and the role of nematodes in soil food web was weakened in the agro-ecosystem after long-term drought. The study provides soil zoological basis for agro-ecosystem responding to extreme drought under climate change.