Abstract: In order to investigate the effect of planting Amomum on soil arthropod communities in tropical seasonal rain forest in Xishuangbanna, the investigation method in the sampling plots was used to study soil arthropod communities in tropical seasonal rain forest and Amomum plantation in 1999. The results showed that total numbers of soil arthropods were 3772 which consisted of 6 classes, and 23 orders in two plots. Ants, acari, hemiptera were dominant groups in the Amomum plantation, the proportion of total individuals of three groups in soil arthropods communities of Amomum plantation was 73.329%. Ant, acari, coleoptera and collembola were dominant groups in tropical seasonal rain forest and their proportion of total individual in soil arthropod communities was 89.778%. The numbers of individual and diversity of soil arthropod communities were higher than those in the Amomum plantation. The vertical distribution of soil arthropod communities in the Amomum plantation was disturbed by human activities, the groups and individuals of soil arthropod in under layer of soil(10～15cm)were more than those in surface layer of soil(0～5cm). In general, groups, and individuals of soil arthropod communities of two plots were higher in dry season than those in metaphase of rainy season. But there were some differences on the seasonal change of soil arthropod individuals in the two plots.

Key words: Shenyang City, Urban forest, Microclimate character