Abstract: Investigations were made in May, June, and November 2007 and January 2008 to study the structural characteristics and their seasonal variations of soil meso- and micro-fauna communities in six habitats of three land use types (forest land, constructed grassland and farmland) in Tianhe District of Guangzhou City. The horizontal spatial distribution of soil fauna differed with habitat. During the investigation periods, the Botanical Garden of South China Agricultural University had the highest individual number (1286) of soil meso- and micro-fauna, while the farmland, especially in the Fenghuang Street area, had the lowest number of individuals and groups. The seasonal variation of the individual number was in  order of autumn (1815)>spring (1623)>winter (1365)>summer (1276). Hierarchical clustering and detrended correspondence analysis also showed that the community composition of soil meso- and micro-fauna in different habitats exhibited distinct seasonal variation. In the same seasons, the community structure and composition of soil meso- and micro-fauna in different habitats were correlated to the degrees of human interferences and the properties of soil environment.

Key words: soil meso- and micro-fauna, habitat, clustering and ordination, urbanization, Mongolian oak, tree ring, climate change, radial growth, climate response.