Abstract: By the methods of soil sampling and bait trap, the characteristics of soil scarab communities in seven different habitats in central region of Inner Mongolia were studied in 2003-2004. Community coefficient, Euclidean distance, percent similarity index, and factor analysis were used to analyze the similarity of the communities. A total of 101788 soil scarabs belonging to 7 families, 22 genus and 59 species were captured, among which, shytophagous scarabs were of 3 families, 12 genus and 18 species and dominated by Melolonthidae and Rutelidae, and coprophagous and saprophagous scarabs were of 4 families, 10 genus and 41 species and dominated by Scarabidae, Aphodiidae and Geotrupidae. Clustering analysis on the community similarity showed that the result from factor analysis was reasonable. The soil scarab communities in the seven habitats could be divided into two groups by the ordering result of factor analysis, one was composed by the communities of typical steppe, meadow steppe, desert steppe, and sandy land, and the other was composed by those of farmland, abandoned farmland, and artificial woodland.

Key words: Soil and water conservation, Runoff-and sediment generation, Forest stand, Loess Plateau