Seasonal dynamics, slope aspect and land use effects on soil mesofauna density in the mid-hills of Nepal

Figures & data

Table 1. Soil physico-chemical properties (mean) with respect to slope aspect, land use and seasons

		Soil organic carbon (%)		pH		Soil moisture (%)		Soiltemperature (^°C)		Bulk density (g/cm^3)
Slope aspect	Land use	Pr-Mn*	Po-Mn+	Pr-Mn*	Po-Mn+	Pr-Mn*	Po-Mn+	Pr-Mn*	Po-Mn+	Pr-Mn*	Po-Mn+
South	Agriculture	2.46	2.086	4.83	5.632	3.638	35.952	26.76	19.82	1.186	1.31
South	Forest	3.72	3.798	4.37	5.056	14.31	27.834	21.08	20.04	1.08	0.99
North	Agriculture	2.93	2.496	5.61	5.534	17.56	28.878	21.6	17.26	1.07	1.25
North	Forest	4.11	4.34	4.97	5.346	34.028	37.952	19.74	15.82	0.75	0.98

Note: Pr-Mn* = pre-monsoon, Po-Mn+ = post-monsoon.

Table 2. Three factorial ANOVA for physico-chemical properties

Sources	Soil organic carbon	Moisture	Temperature	Bulk density	pH
Seasons	0.90^ns	89.778**	47.049**	10.239**	26.747**
Land use	126.337**	19.075**	13.804**	51.501**	29.136**
Slope aspect	11.701**	32.288**	31.53**	13.105**	20.82**

Note: †,*, **, indicates significant at 10%, 5% and 1% probability level, respectively.

Table 3. Soil biological properties (mean) with respect to aspect, land use and seasons

		Population density(no./m^2)		SWDI		QBS-ar
Slope aspect	Land use	Pr-Mn*	Po-Mn+	Pr-Mn*	Po-Mn+	Pr-Mn*	Po-Mn+
South	Agriculture	3580	6320	0.998	1.342	48	71.6
South	Forest	2680	6320	1.164	1.342	55.6	85
North	Agriculture	3480	7060	1.162	1.344	54.2	79.4
North	Forest	5320	18260	1.078	1.176	56.4	99.2

Note: Pr-Mn* = pre-monsoon, Po-Mn+ = post-monsoon.

Table 4. Three way ANOVA for biological indicators

Sources	Population density	SWDI	QBS-ar
Seasons	18.730**	4.050*	21.973**
Land use	7.681**	0.995^ns	2.315 ^ns
Slope aspect	1.407 ^ns	0.172 ^ns	1.962 ^ns
Seasons and Land use	6.247*	0.124 ^ns	0.402 ^ns

Note: †,*, **, indicates significant at 10%, 5% and 1% probability level, respectively.

Figure 1. Map indicating study area.

Table 5. Pearson’s correlation among various physico-chemical and biological properties in pre-monsoon season

	SOC	pH	Moisture	Temperature	BD	PD	SWDI	QBS-ar
PD	0.163	0.250	0.565**	−0.125	−0.257	1	−0.072	0.059
SWDI	−0.068	0.087	0.189	−0.349	0.1	−0.072	1	0.547*
QBS-ar	0.111	0.107	0.165	−0.373	−0.060	0.058	0.547*	1

Note: PD, Population density; SWDI, Shannon–Wiener Diversity Index; BD, Bulk density.

*Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (two-tailed), **Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (two-tailed).

Table 6. Pearson’s correlation among various physio-chemical and biological properties in post-monsoon season

	SOC	pH	Moisture	Temperature	BD	PD	SWDI	QBS-ar
PD	0.673**	−0.511*	0.396	−0.227	−0.559**	1	−0.360	0.697**
SWDI	−0.412	0.443	0.011	−0.124	0.572**	−0.360	1	−0.027
QBS-ar	0.493*	−0.386	0.329	−0.387	−0.488**	0.697**	0.027	1

Note: PD – Population density; SWDI – Shannon–Wiener index; BD – Bulk density.

*Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (two-tailed), **Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (two-tailed).