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Om laboratory and field experiments would aid in filling the gap inside the information on spatial and temporal dynamics of these valuable nematodes and establishing sustainable pest management applications and conservation approaches for employing these biological handle agents. INVENTORY With the SOIL NEMATODE FAUNA AT WHITE SANDS NATIONAL MONUMENT, NEW MEXICO. Beacham, Jacqueline1, S. Thomas1, and E. Bernard2. 1Department of Entomology, Plant Pathology, and Weed Science, New Mexico State University, Box 30003, MSC 3BE, Las Cruces, NM, 88003; and 2Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, University of Tennessee, 2431 Joe Johnson Drive, Space 205, Knoxville, TN, 37996-4500. The uncommon gypsum landscapes at White Sands National Monument (WHSA), located in southern New Mexico, represent exceptional chemical and physical habitats for each soil microorganism and plant communities. Activity and diversity of soil organisms are expected to play key roles inside the SGI-1776 sustainability of the ecosystem. This web site is characterized by seasonal, ephemeral precipitation, and hence variable accessible nutrient inflow, followed by localized or generalized drought. These events combined with low water-holding capacity of arid soils and fast depletion of obtainable nutrients induces a succession of brief, wet, probably copiotrophic periods followed by extended dry and oligotrophic stages. Superficial aquifers induce similarly variable gradients across depth. The goal of this inventory was to assess how soil nematode populations differ across the gradient of ecological internet sites at WHSA, and to learn if these environments cause exceptional soil nematode diversity or speciation. To answer these concerns, six ecological web-sites were inventoried across a gradient of gypsiferous dune development at WHSA including: mesquite coppice dunes in the quartzose sand sheet at the edge of gypsum sand dunes; the barren location associated with the dry lakebed of Lake Lucero where the gypsum sands originate; an interdune cottonwood internet site; marginal Atriplex-grassland web site; intermittent playa site; and an incredibly active barchan dune location. Rhizosphere soils from three plants of every in the two dominant plant species and three, non-rhizosphere, depth-stratified soil samples (0-10 cm; 10-30 cm) have been collected at every single web page. Samples have been collected during the fall of 2011 in the finish with the monsoon season, when soil microorganism abundances are at their peak, permitting evaluation of maximum biotic potential. Soil classification, fertility and gravimetric moisture content material had been also assessed and recorded for every single web page. Plant-parasitic nematodes and Aphelenchidae have been initially identified to genus; all other nematodes have been quantified by trophic category with microscopy. Extracted nematodes were preserved and mounted for morphological species identification with representative specimens photographed and catalogued for inventory purposes. No living nematodes had been collected from either in the lakebed sites or the non-rhizosphere cottonwood soils. Fungivores have been dominant inside the leading ten cm of non-rhizosphere soil at each the quartzose sand-sheet site and also the active dune web-site. Having said that, plant-rhizosphere soils at these two web-sites differed, with herbivores and bacterivores present in high numbers at the quartzose web site although the fungivore population remained predominant in the active dune sight. Surprisingly couple of nematodes have been recovered in the cottonwood-rhizosphere soil in spite of the prevalence of roots. Herbivores were.