Invertebrates Diversity at Natural and Planted Forests in Sari region (In the Depth of 0-10 cm of Soil)

The objective of this study was to evaluate the soil invertebrates diversity within plantations of Alder (Alnus subcordata C. A. Mey.), Maple (Acer velutinum Bioss.), Oak (Quercus castaneifolia C. A. Mey.), Cypress (Cupressus sempervirens var. horizontalis) with an adjacent mixed broad leaved forest in Darabkola (Mazandaran-Iran). In the time of study the plantations were 20 years old. For this purpose, invertebrates were seasonally sampled for one year, using 200 core soil samples (81 cm2 cross section) to a depth of 10 cm. The invertebrates were extracted by Berlese funnel and counted by Binocular. Also 200 soil pits of 100×100 cm2 and 10 cm depth were taken and adult earthworms were collected by hand counting. More over, various parameters of the stands and soils were measured in each microsample plot. The results of this research showed that the forestation activities with hardwood tress improves the diversity of the soil invertebrates. The soil invertebrates diversity in the Alder plantation was significantly greater than the other treatments where as the diversity in the Cypress plantation was significantly lower than the other treatments. Also the analysis of PCA showed that the parameters of temperature, crown canopy, relative light intensity, moisture content of soil and litter and the amount of P/C of litter took an important role in seasonal differences of soil invertebrates diversity in all treatments.