Largersize soil animal communities of the frost soil regions in theupper reaches of Shule River

To understand the soil animal communities of the frost soil regions in the upper area of Shule River, a field survey was carried out to investigate the largersize soil animals from different habitats during June to July, 2010. A total of 453 animals (belonging to 3 classes 9 orders 13 taxonomic groups) were identified in this study, in which the larval Coleopteran (beetles), larval Diptera and adult Coleopteran were dominant groups. Compared with former related record at other regions in the northwest of China, the quantity and diversity of soil animal in the upper reaches of Shule River was lower due to the extremely arid conditions. Although the species composition of the soil animals differed significantly in different vegetation types, the animal biomass and diversity had no obvious correlations with quantified vegetation indices (P0.05). The biomass, individual numbers and ShannonWiener diversity of soil animals was not significantly different between permafrost and seasonal frost (P0.05); however, the diversity in the transition zone of permafrost were significantly higher than those in the permafrost and seasonal frost (P0.05).