Abstract: Peatlands are characterized by low nutrient availability, high environmental gradient complexity, and high microhabitat variability. We investigated soil fauna in Hani peatlands of Changbai Mountain in October 2019 and September 2020 to explore the effects of environmental gradient and microhabitat heterogeneity on typical soil arthropods community structure. A total of 71454 soil springtails and mites were collected. At the spatial scale, there were substantial variations in density, richness, dominant species, endemic species, and diversity index of soil springtails and mites among different peatland habitats. At the temporal scale, community structure of soil arthropods varied greatly between 2019 and 2020, while the community structure of soil arthropods in the moss hummock microhabitats remained relatively stable. Among different microhabitats, soil arthropods density, species richness, and diversity index were significantly higher in moss hummock microhabitats than those in surrounding Carex miyabei community microhabitats. There was no significant difference in soil arthropod diversity among moss hummock microhabitats formed by different moss species. Fourteen indicator species of soil arthropods were recorded in moss hummock microhabitats. Results of redundancy analysis showed that water table depth and total organic carbon content of mosses were the key environmental factors influencing soil arthropods community in moss hummock microhabitats.

Key words: arthropods, community structure, habitat, moss hummock, peatland.