Responses of taxonomic and functional diversity of soil mites to altitudinal changes in forest ecosystems of Lyuliang Mountains, Shanxi, China

• Published in: Ying yong sheng tai xue bao Vol. 34; no. 12; p. 3301
• Main Authors: Liu, Qian-Yu, Wang, Rang-Hu, Wu, Xin-Jie, Dou, Yong-Jing
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Chinese
• Published: China 01.12.2023
• Subjects: altitude gradient; functional diversity; soil animal; soil mite
• ISSN: 1001-9332
• DOI: 10.13287/j.1001-9332.202312.032

The altitudinal gradient pattern of mountain biodiversity and its formation mechanism are hot topics in ecological research. The altitudinal variations of belowground invertebrates are less understood than aboveground plants and animals. With soil mites as the model soil animals, we investigated their distribution patterns from 1318 m to 2500 m above sea level in three mountains of Lyuliang Mountains based on species diversity and functional diversity. We used soil pH, total N, total P, total K, and organic matter content to identify potential drivers of soil mite communities and diversity along the altitudinal gradient. A total of 715 soil mites were collected, belonging to 3 orders, 27 families, 28 genera, and 29 species. , and were dominant mites. Non-metric multidimensional scaling showed that soil mites community composition varied significantly among different altitudes due to predominated in high altitude and predominated in middle altitude. There were significant differences in individual density of s