Observation on the Trophic Groups of Soil Nematoda (Dorylaimida) and their occurrence in Four Wildlife Sanctuaries of West Bengal, India

Abstract

An attempt has been made to investigate the occurrence of soil-inhabiting Nematoda in respect to their feeding habits of the order Dorylaimida in four small wildlife sanctuaries (WLS), situated in four districts of southern part of West Bengal, India. 19 species of Dorylaimida have been reported from the forest ecosystem of Ballavpur WLS, Birbhum district, 13 species from Ramnabagan Wildlife Sanctuary (commonly known as Bardhaman Zoo Garden), Bardhaman district, 17 species from Bethuadhari Wildlife Sanctuary, Nadia district and 20 species from Bibhutibhusan Wildlife Sanctuary, North-24-parganas district of West Bengal. Soil nematodes play a crucial ecological role in providing ecosystem services like decomposition of soil organic matter, nutrients cycling, and mineralization of soil substances to sustain a healthy soil ecosystem. This process supports growth of plant by ensuring an available food supply. To understand this better, feeding habits and trophic groups with a comparative study of the feeding guilds up to species level have been done in four different forest ecosystem. The feeding guild abundance with the inter-sanctuary hierarchy in 52 species from nine different feeding groups have concluded on a diversified feeding practice rather than depending on a specific diet. The Principal component analysis of the nematode species in lieu of similarity in their trophic groups distributed in each WLS explores the nature of the trophic pattern.