DIVERSITY OF SOIL MESOFAUNA IN THE NEW VALLEY OASES , WESTERN DESERT , EGYPT

Wafai Z. A. Mikhail. Department of Natural Resources, Faculty of African Postgraduate Studies, University of Cairo. ...................................................................................................................... Manuscript Info Abstract ......................... ........................................................................ Manuscript History Received: 16 July 2019 Final Accepted: 18 August 2019 Published: September 2019

This was conducted in four localities: Al-Kharga, Al Monira, Boulaq and Baris Oases in the New Valley Governorates, from the farmlands and the out skirting desert.Soil mesofauna was sampled by means of the pitfall trap method. Data of activity density of soil mesofauna families were treated by multivariate statistical methods; correspondence analysis and ascending hierarchic classification. A total of 499 individuals of soil mesofauna belonging to 35 families of 9 orders, were obtained. Based on the activity density of soil mesofauna, each of Al-Kharga and Boulaq are similar to each other at about 60% and each of Al-Monira and Baris are similar at about 56%, whereas, the four oases of the present study are similar at about 45%. The two indices of diversity used in this study indicated that families of soil mesofauna are nearly equal in both species richness and evenness. Composition and diversity of soil mesofauna families may differ in desert agro-ecosystems according to cropping patterns and type and intensity of agriculture practices.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………….... Introduction:-
Soil organisms are an integral part of agricultural ecosystems especially in desert areas. The presence of a range of soil organisms is essential for the maintenance of healthy productive soils. An excessive reduction in soil biodiversity, especially the loss of species with unique functions, may have catastrophic effects, leading to the longterm degradation of soil and the loss of agricultural productive capacity. As a consequence, more land would be needed for agricultural production to meet demands.
The overlooking and depletion of the beneficial functions performed by soil organisms in agricultural ecosystems as a result of inappropriate soil biological management is contributing to increased rates of land degradation, nutrient depletion, fertility decline, water scarcity, and yield reductions. All these factors have a negative impact on the livelihoods of people who depend directly on agriculture for their subsistence.
One of the main gaps in most agricultural management systems is their failure to consider the option of managing soil biological processes and, in particular, using practices that favour the activity of soil mesofauna as a means to maintain and improve soil fertility. Although not readily visible, relatively more attention has been placed in research and development on the functions of soil micro-organismsboth their positive effects on nutrient cycling and uptake, and the negative effects of soil borne pests, including nematodes (microfauna), and pathogens.

ISSN: 2320-5407
Int. J. Adv. Res. 7 (9), 1277-1283 1278 The aim of the present study was conducted to survey soil mesofauna communities in such desert agro-ecosystems in the New Valley of the Western Desert of Egypt.

Material and Methods:-The Study Sites
The New Valley Governorate is located on the south western part of the country, and shares the international borders of Libya to the west and Sudan to the south. As for its internal boundaries, it shares the borders with the Governorates of El Menia, Giza and Marsa Matrooh on the north and Assiut, Suhag, Qena and Aswan on the east.
The Governorate is divided up administratively into 4 centers, which comprise 4 cities, 37 local units and 164 villages in which approximately 187 thousand persons live. Water resources are considered the main factor for the distribution of the urban centers, as well as the availability of arable soil. Further, roads and transportation is considered the main factor for the urban activation and development of the centers and their sustainability.
The New Valley Governorate is considered the biggest Governorate in the country in terms of area, which amounts to approximately 440098 km 2 , representing approximately 43.6% of the total area of the country.
The New Valley climate is dry desert climate, and the most important factors may be illustrated as follows: Rainfall is almost scarce throughout the year, not exceeding 4 mm/year. Average annual temperature is 23°C. Average relative annual humidity is 35.5% and average annual wind speed is 6 km/hour.

Treatment of data
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. All these calculations were done using PAST3 Programme, Version 1.94b (Hammer, 2009).    2  2  Scarabaeidae  1  1  Tenebrionidae  11  11  Lycaenidae  11  5  5  6  27  Pieridae  1  1  2  1  5  Libellulidae  10  14  6  9  39  Agrionidae  5  1  6  Acrididae  7  9  34  10  60  Gryllidae  3  2  5  Tettigoniidae  3  2  3  8  Coreidae  2  3  5  Lygaeidae  1  1  Pentatomidae  3  8  11  17  39  Reduviidae  3  3  Chrysopidae  3  4  2  8  17  Myrmeleontidae  4  4  Mantidae  1  1  2  Nymphalidae  1  6  7  Asilidae  1  1  Muscidae  5  10  8  23  Bombylidae  1  1  Syrphidae  1  1  Conopidae  2  3  5  Tabanidae  1  2  3  Apidae  18  13  13  22  66  Sphecidae  8  14  13  35  Eumenidae  1  9  2  6  18  Formicidae  4  4  Vespidae  4  1  5  Pompilidae  2  1  3  Ischnumenidae  1  1  Scoliidae  6  5  1  15  27  Families  16  21  24  19  35  Individuals  78  134  150  137  499 Baris Oasis has the largest number of both families and individuals of soil mesofauna families, while Al-Kharga Oasis has the lowest numbers of both families and individuals whereas each of Al Monira and Boulaq are intermediate (Fig. 1).  2) shows results of the application of ordination methods, correspondence analysis(CA) and ascending hierarchic classification (AHC), to data of Table (1). Fourty-four of the total variance is associated the first (horizontal) axis and 36% with the second (vertical) one. The first axis separates between each of Al-Kharga and Boulq Oases, which are cultivated with clover, at the right hand, from that of Baris Oasis, which experience mixed    (3) shows results the hierarchical classification of oases of the present study based on Jaccard similarity index (sometimes called the Jaccard similarity coefficient) compares members for two sets to see which members are shared and which are distinct. It's a measure of similarity for the two sets of data, with a range The Jaccard index will always give a value between 0 (no similarity) and 1 (identical sets), and to describe the sets as being "x% similar" you need to multiply that answer by 100. So a Jaccard index of 0.73 means two sets are 73% similar. The higher the percentage, the more similar the two populations. Although it's easy to interpret, it is extremely sensitive to small samples sizes and may give erroneous results, especially with very small samples or data sets with missing observations. 1281

Discussion:-
The soil mesofauna of each of the four sites of the New Valley area seems to be distinct. However, the ordination and classification techniques used serve to give better illustrations of these data sets. Correspondence analysis (CA) is a multivariate graphical technique designed to explore the relationships among categorical variables. Ecologists frequently collect data on multiple categorical variables with the goal of examining associations among these variables. Nevertheless, CA appears to be an underused technique in ecological data. The total variance among these categorical data is 80% (Fig. 2), and is good enough to explain the data matrix in dual low dimensional vector space and gives a better visualization of the data set of the present study (Mikhail, 1996).
In the present study, the activity density Here, we explore two measures of biodiversity Simpson and Shannon indices of diversity. Biodiversity is one of the primary interests of ecologists, but quantifying the species diversity of ecological communities is complicated. In addition to issuesof statistical sampling, the rather arbitrary nature of delineating an ecological community, and the difficulty of positively identifying all of the species present, species diversity itself has two separate components: 1.) the number of speciespresent (species richness), and 2.) their relative abundances (termed dominance or evenness) (Gotelli and Colwell, 2011). The two indices of diversity used in this study indicated that families of soil mesofauna are nearly equal in both species richness and evenness.

Conclusion:-
The soil mesofauna of each of Al-Kharga, Al-Monira, Baris and Boulaq of the New Valley area seems to be distinct. The statistical method used; ordination and classification techniques, are efficient methods in comparing data assemblages of soil mesofauna of different localities. Composition and diversity of soil mesofauna families may differ in desert agro-ecosystems according to cropping patterns and type and intensity of agriculture practices.