Diversity and Ecological Interaction of Soil and Forest Litter Nematodes From a Scottish Woodland Krivtsov V.1, Romanenko N.D.2, Popov I.2, Garside A.3 1CSCE, The Crew Building, King's Buildings, University of Edinburgh, West Mains Road, Edinburgh, EH9 3JN, Scotland, United Kingdom e-mail: e96kri69@netscape.net 2Institute of Parasitology, Russian Academy of Science, Leninsky Prospect, 33, 119071, Moscow, Russia. Tel.: (495)9523145, Fax: (495)9523146 e-mail: cenologypathlab@mail.ru 3Scottish Crop Research Institute, Invergowrie, Dundee, Scotland, United Kingdom. Abstract Heron Wood (Peebleshire, Scotland) is part of the Dawyck Botanic Garden (Ordnance Survey grid reference NT(36)175355), which is situated on the Silurian rock system characteristic of the Scottish Borders. It lies on a NW slope of a hill covered with shallow stony soils, which are acidic and almost lime free. The dominant vegetation is represented by beech (Fagus) and birch (Betula), with oaks (Quercus) being subdominant. Our analysis revealed 52 genera of soil nematodes belonging to 6 orders (Tylenchida, Rhabditida, Teratocephalida, Araeolaimida, Enoplida, and Dorylaimida). Five main ecologico-trophical groups revealed were: bacterial feeders, hyphal feeders, plant feeders, animal predators and omnivorous. Bacterial feeders were represented by 17 genera (35%); animal predators by 11 genera (22%); omnivores by 10 genera (19,6%) and plant feeding nematodes by 9 genera (17,65%), which were characteristic for the investigated biocenoses of Scotland. In soil as well as in leaf litter the bacterial feeders (7 genera - 35%) and omnivorous (6 genera - 30%) were the dominant groups. The representation of the other trophic groups varied from 10% (2 genera of hyphal feeders and 2 genera of predators) to 15% (plant feeders - 3 genera). In comparison with leaf litter, there was a considerable decrease of taxonomic diversity in the soil (in soil only 20 genera of nematodes were revealed, while in leaf litter 51 were revealed). These results may provide a valuable reference for further ecological and biodiversity. Top Keywords Ecological interactions, forest soil, nematodes, Scotland, vegetation litter. Top |