Abstract: The maintenance of urban biodiversity is of great significance to the improvement of urban environment and sustainable development. Soil animals, as a cornerstone and component of biodiversity, are important indicators of urban soil environment. The seasonal dynamics of soil fauna community structure in Shanghai Jing’an Sculpture Park were examined to understand the dynamics of soil animal diversity in urban green spaces and provide scientific reference for biological assessment of soil environment. A total of 2305 individuals of soil animals were captured, belonging to 23 groups, with a total density of 19565 ind·m^-2. The dominant groups were Acari and Collembola, accounting for 49.41% and 33.62% of the total abundance, respectively, with an A/C value of 1.5. The common groups were Protura, Diplura, Pauropoda, Diplopoda, Enchytraediae, and Nematoda, accounting for 12.80% of the total abundance. Soil fauna showed obvious surface clustering characteristics. The density of soil animals in the 0-5 cm soil layer was significantly higher than that in the 5-15 cm soil layer (P<0.05). With the soil layer deepened, the Shannon index decreased and the Simpson dominance index increased. The vertical distribution of soil animals showed seasonal variations, with the total density of soil animals being the highest and the Shannon index being the lowest in summer.

Key words: community diversity, urban green space, soil environment, biological indicator.