Kunakh O. Spatial ecology of steppe Dnipro region soil animals

The object of the thesis is the soil animals of the natural, agricultural, urban and industrial ecosystems of the steppe Dnieper region. The aim is to develop the principles and methods of spatial ecology of soil animals as a scientific basis for the protection of biological and landscape diversity, soil fertility restoration under conditions of intensive agricultural production, land reclamation in the conditions of steppe Dnieper region. To determine the locations of experimental polygon based on the algorithm developed SRSS adaptive sampling strategy; to assess the spatial variability of soil macrofauna within experimental landfill soil and the zoological sample size 0,25 × 0,25 m placed on a regular grid of 7 × 15 m at intervals of 2 (or 3 m) between adjacent samples; to measure the soil hardness the penetrometer Eijkelkamp was used, to measure the soil electrical conductivity the HI 76305 device was used, the temperature of the soil - Digital thermometer WT-1. Power line bedding measured height of grass - dimensional roulette. There are 6100 soil-zoological samples were selected, and 71038 soil animals belonging to 380 species have been found. There have been 954 registrations by the Barber’s traps, and 148533 exampls of the soil animals have been collected. The thesis shows that consistent application of GNSFA analysis techniques reveals the particular organization of ecological niches for large-scale animals level of individual biogeocenosis. The ecological niche of micromolusk Vallonia pulchella (Muller, 1774) can be described by the edaphic characteristics and the vegetation properties usage. The evidence that the model of point processes can be widely used to study the spatial distribution of animals or traces of their activity on a large scale level of individual biogeocenosis or landscape level have been obtained. An important research result is that index habitat preferences set by using ENFA-procedure model is continual environmental space type, which is derived from point counts, information about the spatial variation ecogeographic variables and factor structure model of the animals ecological niches. It is shown that ecogeographic variables derived from remote sensing Earth (relief performance characteristics and vegetation) suitable for effective description of the spatial distribution of animals on the landscape level. It is proved that the spatial organization of soil macrofauna at biogeocenosis determined the spatial variability of soil properties as the habitats of animals and can be presented in terms ecomorphes. The question of the relationship between structuralism and continuality is the fact that the ecological space environmental effects can be discrete nature and clear boundaries, and in geographical space environmental effects are continual nature and lack of clear boundaries. In the thesis the comparison between ecological niche theory and the theory of neutrality was done to explain the spiders community organization. The technology of spatial variability assessment of soil macrofauna communities in terms of urban environment was developed. The quality and negative features of agrosems indicators were based on oribatid species. The results are used for scientific study measures to protect biodiversity in the natural reserve "Dnieper-Orilskiy." Principles and methods developed in the thesis formed the basis for modeling spatial distribution of weeds and pests in agriculture. Spatial ecology of soil animals provides practical tools for environmental assessment and dynamics technosems restore ecosystem functions in the reclamation of land disturbed by mountain developments. The work was designed and tested an adaptive algorithm of the experimental sites location for the study of the spatial variation of soil invertebrate communities.