Abstract: To understand soil meso and microarthropods community inside and outside of the cave in response to environmental factors, we investigated soil meso and microarthropods in four sampling sites in Huishui and Changshun counties, south Guizhou in January (winter), May (spring), July (summer), and October (autumn) of 2019. A total of 3948 soil meso and microarthropod individuals were captured, belonging to 6 classes, 15 orders and 93 families, with Isotomidae and Mochlozetidae being the dominant group. There was a significant difference in community structure of soil arthropods between the inside and outside of the cave. The group number, individual density, and Shannon index of soil meso and microarthropods of community outside the cave were significantly higher than those of inside (P<0.05). Moreover, the group number, individual density and Shannon index of soil meso and microarthropods showed seasonal variation in the community outside of the cave, while the group number and Shannon index had obvious seasonal fluctuation in the community inside of the cave. A weak spatiotemporal variation was observed for the Nanorchestidae and Mochlozetidae. Cheyletidae, Chironomidae, Hypogastruridae, Autognetidae, Sphacrolichidae, Prostigmata, Brachychthoniidae, Parasiformes, Lohmanniidae, Otocepheidae, and Epilohmanniidae had stronger spatial variation than seasonal variation. Oribatulidae, Alicorhagiidae, Scutacaridae, Uropodidae, Malaconothridae, Microdispidae, Stigmaeidae, Homoptera, Curculionidae larvae, Staphylinidae adults, and Veigaiidae showed strong spatial and seasonal variations. The results of correlation analysis and redundancy analysis (RDA) showed that soil pH, soil available nitrogen and potassium, and light intensity were major factors affecting soil mesoand microarthropod communities. Collectively, community characteristics of soil meso and microarthropods were significantly different between the inside and outside of the cave. Such patterns were mainly caused by the differences of light condition, vegetation composition, and soil physicochemical properties.

Key words: cave, soil mesoand microarthropods, community characteristic.