R. Jordana

Diversity of soil nematodes across a Mediterranean ecotone

As an indicator of ecological maturity, we have analyzed the nematode community of an erosion-prone Mediterranean macchia and a pine stand within it. Species richness, abundance, diversity and maturity indexes have been measured from a number of standardized soil samples taken along parallel transects laid across the boundary between the pine stand and the macchia. Results of multifactor analysis on these data show three distinct nematode communities of different species composition. The intermediate nematode community (ecotone) is not a mixture of elements of adjacent communities (pine stand and macchia), thus suggesting the existence of an ecotone-specific community beyond the expected boundary effect.