Effects of different afforestation types on soil faunal diversity in Horqin Sand Land

In order to deeply understand the effects of afforestation on the soil faunal diversity in mobile sand land, an investigation was conducted on the community structure of soil animals in the mobile sand land and its adjacent about 30 years old forest land and shrub land in Hrqin Sand Land. Afforestation on the mobile sand land had remarkable effects on the soil properties, especially the soil environment in shrub land, in which, the soil water content, pH, and nutrient contents were improved. In the three lands investigated, a total of 485 individuals belonging to 11 soil animal groups were collected, among which, Acarina and Collembola were the dominant groups, Corrodentia was the common group, and the others were of rare groups. From the mobile sand land to shrub land to forest land, the soil faunal density decreased, group richness and Shannon index increased, and evenness declined, but no significant differences were observed in these indices among these three lands. It was suggested that afforestation on mobile sand land could improve the soil environment and enhance soil faunal diversity, but there was a limitation to take 30 years old plantations as test objects to investigate the effects of afforestation on soil faunal diversity in mobile sand land.