Diversity of soil mesofauna in El-bahariya Oasis, Western Desert, Egypt

Soil mesofauna were sampled at El-Bawiti, Bahariya Oasis from the farmlands and the area around in desert. The area was divided into three parts: the eastern and western parts as well as area of El-Bawiti town itself. The eastern part was cultivated by Egyptian clover or berseem (Trifolium alexandrenum L.) is the main winter forage in Egypt and is a basic component of a sustainable cropping system. The western part was cultivated with maize (Zea mays), and called corn in several countries. Middle part is located in El-Bawiti town with small mixed cultivation of different crops and some trees. The soil fauna was collected from study area by means of the pitfall trap method. Data of the activity density of the soil mesofauna taxa sampled in the present study were statistically analyzed by multivariate statistical methods: correspondence analysis CA and ascending hierarchical classification AHC. Simpson(S) and Shannon-Wiener (H) indices of diversity as well as Jaccard index of similarity were also calculated. Results show that the area cultivated with the Egyptian clover, T. alexandrenum, the eastern part, has more or less 25 families of soil mesofauna. On the other hand, the western part, which cultivated with maize, Zea mays, supports about 24 families. The two areas contain order Collembola with unidentified families. Each of crop density and crop type affect to great extent on the number of soil mesofauna families in each of the three sites of the present study. Thus, affect pitfall trap catches and consequently the two indices of diversity.