Circannual Variation and Interrelationship of Edaphic Factors With the Soil Micro Arthropods in Agro Forestry Habitats

Hina Parwez; Nisha Sharma

Volume : III, Issue : XII, December - 2014

Circannual Variation and Interrelationship of Edaphic Factors With the Soil Micro Arthropods in Agro Forestry Habitats

Hina Parwez, Nisha Sharma

Abstract :

Soil and litter habitats have become recognized repositories for biodiversity. They are also dominated by some of the smallest animals the microartropods. They play a vital role to evaluate the soil health and make them economically viable as well as environmentally sustainable. Economic viability and soil degradation are major issues in agro forestry of western planes of U.P. in India. Soil microorthopods are ecologically important in terms of soil structure, nutrient cycle and as food for others. The objective of this study was to identify the patterns of diversity in a below ground community of micro arthropods in agro forestry in a semi arid zone of western U.P. in India. The extraction of soil micro arthropods was done by modified Tullegren funnel and analyses of edaphic factors such as- soil temperature, soil moisture, organic carbon, available nitrogen, phosphate were done by standard laboratory methods. The result showed that the total number of microorthopods obtained from this site showed an irregular trend of fluctuation during the investigation period. Apterygote population dominated by Collembola and Diplura were as Pterygote population was dominated by order-Diptera, Isoptera, Hymenoptera, Hemiptera and Coleoptera. Among edaphic factors- Soil temperature varied between 15?C to 34?C, Soil moisture 0.30%to 4.27%, Organic carbon 0.59 to 0.79% and available nitrogen varied between 226.8 to 253.4 ppm. This study strongly suggests that edaphic factors are responsible for the diversity of microarthopod population.