An ecological analysis of soil sarcodina at Dongzhaigang mangrove in Hainan Island, China

The community structure of soil sarcodina in three different habitats within a typical mangrove forest in Dongzhaigang, Hainan, China was investigated with qualitative and quantitative analyses. The three habitats were Site A (bare land without vegetation), Site B (artificially planted mangroves) and Site C (natural mangroves). The abundance, species diversity, dominance and community similarity index of soil sarcodina in fresh and air-dried soils with different physical/chemical properties were comparatively analyzed. Statistical analyses showed that the sarcodina abundance was positively correlated with moisture, salinity, organic matter (OM), total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP) and sulfate (SO42−) of the mangrove soil, but the correlation coefficients with pH and total potassium (kalium, TK) were negative. The abundance and diversity index of sarcodina followed the order of Site A < Site B < Site C in both fresh and air-dried soils; Site B showed the highest community similarity with Site C; whereas, Sites A and C had the smallest community similarity in both fresh and dried samples from these three different habitats.