RESPONSE BY SOIL NEMATODE POPULATIONS AND THE SOIL MICROBIAL BIOMASS TO A RAIN EPISODE IN THE HOT, DRY NEGEV DESERT

Since the amount, intensity, and frequency of rainfall in desert regions vary strongly over space and time, the response by soil biota to this variability is of great importance. We conducted a study in the Negev desert in order to examine the immediate response by the soil nematode populations and the microbial biomass to varying amounts of water applied in a single pulse. Soil samples from the 0-10-cm depth were collected from areas undergoing four different wetting treatments, comprising 5, 10, 15, and 20 mm of water, and from a non-irrigated control soil. There was a correlation between diurnal variations in nematode populations and the diurnal fluctuations in soil moisture. The greatest abundance of nematodes was found in the soil treated with 20 mm water (970 individuals 100 g-1 dry soil) which was 2, 4, 5, and 14 times larger than that found in the soil treated with 15, 10, 5, and 0 mm of water, respectively. Bacterial-feeding and fungal-feeding nematodes accounted for approximately 95% of the total nematode population found in all treatments. The microbial biomass examined in the current study exhibited an immediate response to the wetting which was greater in soil treated with, 10, 15, and 20 mm of water compared with 0 and 5 mm. However, after 4 days (96 hours) the microbial biomass stabilized again at the basic level of the 0-mm control. However, our results indicated that the major trigger for changes in the nematode populations, and in the microbial biomass, was diurnal fluctuations in soil moisture, since peaks in nematode populations and in the microbial biomass were observed at various times of the day.