Soil nematode community under the non-native trees in the Botanic Garden of Petrozavodsk State University

The particularities of soil nematode communities of the rhizosphere of non-native trees were studied in the Botanic Garden of Petrozavodsk State University (Republic of Karelia). Taxonomic diversity, abundance, community structure and ecological indices derived from nematode fauna analysis were used as the evaluation parameters. Nematode fauna included 51 genera, 6 of them were plant parasitic. The dominant eco-trophic group in the nematode community structure of coniferous trees was bacterial feeders; fungal feeders in most cases were observed in the second numbers. The contribution of bacterial feeders was decreased and plant parasites were increased in eco-trophic structure of nematode communities of deciduous trees in compared with coniferous trees. Analysis of ecological indices showed that the state of soil nematode communities reflects complex, structured (stable) soil food web in the biocenoses with deciduous trees, and degraded (basal) food web – under coniferous trees.