Abstract:
Conservation tillage offers comprehensive benefits, including water retention, soil improvement, increased yield, and enhanced ecological environment. However, there is currently a lack of evaluation regarding its impact on soil biodiversity. Soil oribatid mites, an important component of soil biota, are sensitive to changes in the soil environment and can reflect soil health status. To elucidate the response of soil oribatid mites to conservation tillage, a study was conducted in a conservation tillage experimental field in Nong'an County, Jilin Province. We compared the diversity and distribution characteristics of soil oribatid mites under three tillage practices: conventional tillage (CT), wide-narrow row no-tillage (WN), and strip tillage (ST). A total of 13,068 soil oribatid mites, belonging to 24 families, 26 genera, and 28 species, were collected and identified. Non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) and analysis of similarity (ANOSIM) revealed significant differences in soil oribatid mite community structure between CT and WN compared to ST. Similarity percentage analysis indicated that the species contributing most to the differences between CT and WN was the
Tectoribates mahunkai, between CT and ST was the
Epilohmannia (
Epilohmannia)
minuta pacifica, and between WN and ST was the
Oppiella (
Moritzoppiella)
neerlandica. The primary component of beta diversity in soil oribatid mite communities across different tillage practices was the species richness difference component (RichDiff). Indicator species analysis identified soil oribatid mites as indicators of different conservation tillage practices in farmland, five indicator species were found under ST. Overall, compared to CT and WN, ST is more conducive to increasing soil oribatid mite density and species richness, which is of significance for the conservation of soil biodiversity in the black soil region.