Effect of free-air CO_2 enrichment on nematode communities in a Chinese farmland ecosystem

Article type: Research Article

Authors: LI, Qi^; | LIANG, Wen-ju | JIANG, Yong | ZHU, Jian-guo | KONG, Chui-hua

Affiliations: Shenyang Experimental Station of Ecology, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, China | Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China | Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100039, China

Note: [] Corresponding author. E-mail: liangwj@iae.ac.cn

Abstract: At a rice-wheat rotational free-air CO_2 enrichment (FACE) platform, the effect of elevated atmospheric CO_2 on soil nematode communities in a farmland ecosystem was studied. Wheat plots were exposed to elevated atmospheric CO_2 (ambient 370 μl/L + 200 μl/L). 32 families and 40 genera of nematode were observed in soil suspensions during the study period. Under FACE treatment, the numbers of total nematodes, bacterivores and fungivores exhibited an increasing trend. Because of the seasonal variation of soil temperature and moisture, the effectof elevated atmospheric CO_2 on soil nematodes was only observed under favorable conditions. The response of nematode communities to elevated atmospheric CO_2 may indicate the change of soil food web.

Keywords: nematode community, trophic group, free-air CO[TeX:] _2 enrichment (FACE), wheat, farmland ecosystem

Journal: Journal of Environmental Sciences, vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 72-75, 2005