Community structure of soil inhabiting nematodes in a mango orchard at Aligarh, India.
Tomar V. V. S., Mohammad Baniyamuddin, Wasim Ahmad
Author Affiliation: Section of Nematology, Department of Zoology, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh - 202 002, India.
International Journal of Nematology 16 : 89-101
Abstract : Community structure of soil inhabiting nematodes from a fifty year old mango orchard (Magnifera indica L) was studied. Nematode roles were assessed in terms of generic frequency, diversity, density, biomass and trophic diversity, as well as some common ecological indices. Twenty randomly selected composite samples yielded fifty six genera belonging to ten orders. They were allotted different trophic groups on the basis of their feeding habits. Total nematode numbers extracted averaged 637/100 cc of soil. Of the total population, 43% were herbivores, 32.1% bacteriovores, 11.2% were predators, 7.4% omnivores and 6.9% fungivores. Their mean density ranged from .4-68, while mean biomass ranged from 0.02-3051 µg per 100 cc of soil in the entire nematode population studied. Correlation studies revealed a definite correlation between herbivores-predators and omnivores-predators, while some degree of correlation existed between different trophic groups. Identified nematode genera were assigned c-p values, most of which belonged to cp 4 (20 genera), thus giving an idea of stability of nematode populations in the studied mango orchard.