STUDIES ON DIVERSITY AND DISTRIBUTION OF COLLEMBOLA IN THE MAN MADE FOREST ECOSYSTEM AT BIBHUTI BHUSHAN WILD LIFE SANCTUARY, PARMADAN, NORTH 24 PGS. DISTRICT, WEST BENGAL

The collembolans are small, entognathous, wingless insects possessing a spring-like forked jumping organ, the furcula underneath the fourth abdominal segment. They are minute in size (less than 6 mm in length); antennae primarily with 4 segments. The presence of antennae and absence of cerci distinguish them from the other entognathous hexapods. The collembolans have very diverse distribution occurring in all Zoogeographical regions of the world inhabiting a wide range of ecological niche and climate. It includes a variety of habitats where they feed as scavengers on decaying vegetation and soil fungi even occurring in the vicinity of both south and north poles upto 83° south latitude in Antarctica. The collembolans are major components of terrestrial ecosystems (and particularly significant members of the soil communities), constituting a significant proportion of the animal biomass reaching densities of 200 to 1800 individuals per dm3, densities surpassed by the Acarine soil population (Handschin, 1955).

Added to this, there is growing evidence of interest from Indian workers as indicated by the proceedings of two national symposia "Soil Biology and Ecology in India" (Edwards & Veeresh, 1978) and "Progress in Soil Biology and Ecology in India" (Veeresh, 1981), followed by "Applied Soil Biology and Ecology" (Veeresh & Rajagopal, 1983) and "Advances in Management and Conservation of Soil Fauna" (Veeresh et. al. 1991), signaling the gradual maturity of soil faunal studies in India.These publications attempted to bridge the gap in the know ledge on soil biology and ecology in this country, which is, as yet insignificant compared to her vast landscape variation and severe pressures on fragile soils.Added to this venture was the launching of the Indian J oumal of Soil Biology and Ecology in 1981.Qualitative and quantitative studies of soil fauna, particularly the micro-arthropods from Indian soils began from the mid-sixties, although ecological studies were initiated much earlier (Trehan, 1945).However, major contributions have been from the agricultural fields, grasslands, abandoned fields and tea gardens, and very few from tropical rainforests.While the microarthropod studies from various forest floors immediately transferred to polythene packets and labeled, taking as much as possible to prevent loss of moisture.The labeled samples were brought to the laboratory for extraction within 24 hours of their collection.

EXTRACTION OF COLLEMBOLA
Extraction of soil samples were carried out by "Expedition Funnel Apparatus" modified by Macfadyen (1953) with a 40-watt bulbs for providing heat and light.The extraction period varied from 36 hrs to 72 hours depending upon the moisture content of the soil sample (Plate 1 & 2).

ANALYSIS OF EDAPHIC FACTORS
Soil samples dried in a hot air oven at about 105°C for further bacterial action (some samples were kept separately for the estimation of soil moisture) were then allowed to cool and stored in a dessicator and dried soil was passed through the 2 mm sieve, mixed and fractionated before analysis.

Temperature
Soil-thermometer was put in use to record the temperature of the soil at 5cm depth and the temperature of air, one meter above ground level.

Moisture
Moisture of the soil sample measured by the 'Oven Dry Method' (Dowdeswell, 1959) and has been expressed in percentage of the weight difference before and after drying soil sample at 105°C for four hours.

Hydrogen Ion Concentration (pH)
A soil suspension was prepared in a glass bottle with stopper in which one part of soil was mixed with five parts of de-ionized double distilled water and was shaken in a mechanical shaker for one hour and the ratio was determined after CSIR (Piper, 1942) before taking the reading of the pH of the soil solution electronic pH meter, "WTW -pH 320" after standardizing the instrument each time with a standard Beckman buffer solution for avoiding the instrumental error.

Organic Carbon
Organic Carbon content of the soil was determined by 'Rapid Titration Method' (Walkely and Black, 1934).% C =3.951fg (1-TS).Organic matter of the soil (1 gm) was digested with excess 1 (N) K2Cr207 and conc.H 2 SO 4 and the residual utilized dichromate is then titrated with l(N) Fe (NH4)2S04 using diphenyle amine indicator.

Collembolan Fauna
The Collembolan fauna obtained from this site belonged to 16 species in 14 genera.Amongst them, the species Lepidocyrtus magnificus was found most dominant and it was (18.5 %) of the total fauna recorded from this site.The species Lepidocyrtus medius contributed (14.38%),Onychiurus indicus contributed (12.9%),L. exploratorius contributed (9.2%), Xenylla obscura contributed (5.16%), Ballistrura bengalensis contributed (7.5%), Isotomurus balteatus contributed (4.2%) and Salina bengalensis contributed (3.14%).Population of other species from this site was numerically low and highly irregular in distribution pattern in the sampling site.Percentage of springtails was found maximum in August in three consecutive years, which coincided with the maximum concentration of soil factors like-moisture, organic carbon and other edaphic factors (Fig. 1).

Seasonal changes
Seasonal changes of each predominant species of Collembola obtained from this site revealed that Lepidocyrtus magnificus, Lepidocyrtus medius and Onychiurus indicus had reached at its peak in August in both the years, while Lepidocyrtus exploratorius showed maximum in January 2008 but 2009 the peak was shifted to December.It is apparently seen that, predominant forms of collembolan obtained from this site exhibited an irregular trend of fluctuation being minimum in AprillMay/June, slightly higher in December/January/February and higher in July/August!Sept. In this field, the population peak of other general species varied among the years as well as month of observation due to their irregular occurrence (Fig. 2

Location and Characteristic of sampling site-II:
This locality is situated about 100 meters from the previous locality towards south of the core area of the sanctuary.There are few uprooted logs present in that area and underneath the logs large nos. of fungal combs were growth.The locality was also covered with large numbers of tall trees along with some herbs and shrubs.Soil was humid and large nos. of decomposed leaves was present.

Soil factors
Soils of the plots were alluvial in nature, blackish brown in colour and sandy silt in texture.Mechanical analysis of soil showed maximum percentage of medium silt 35.6% and more or less equal percentage of fine  -2).

Collembolan Fauna
The Collembolan fauna obtained from this site belonged to 14 species under 12 genera.The species Xenylla obscura was the most dominant with 16.4% of the total fauna recorded from this site.The species are, Lepidocyrtus medius, Onychiurus indicus, Lepidocyrtus exploratorius, Ballistrura bengalensis and Isotomina thermophila which represented 13.58%, 12.94%, 10.76%, 8.97%, and 6.15% respectively.Population of other species from this site was numerically low and highly irregular in distribution pattern.The population of collembola was found maximum in the month of August in both the year, which coincided with the maximum concentration of soil factors like moisture, pH and organic carbon.Partial increase in population in December-January as obtained in this site might be due to prevalence of winter maxima resulting from increased population of some species of collembolan as evident (Fig. 3).

Seasonal Changes
Number of each predominant species of collembolan insects obtained from this site revealed that Xenylla obscura and Onychiurus indicus indicating single peak in August in both the year (2008 and 2009) while Lepidocyrtus medius showed its peak in December, 2008 but in 2009 the peak shifted to February.Lepidocyrtus exploratorius and Ballistrura bengalensis exhibited highest peak in January (2008 & 2009) in both the year.It became apparently evident that predominant formed of collembolan obtained in this site exhibited an irregular trend of fluctuation The population maxima of other genera and species varied during the years as well as months of observation due to their irregular occurrence in this field (Fig. 4).This locality was situated in the four way crossing path of the core area of the sanctuary.The locality was also covered with large numbers of tall trees but not thickly populated.The area also covered with large nos. of tall grasses.The soil was semi-dry and alluvial in nature.The sampling site was maintained with coverage of litter of the fallen leaves and dried twigs of the above trees.

Soil factors
Soils are alluvial, blackish brown in colour and clayey silt to silty in texture.Mechanical analysis of soil showed maximum percentage of coarse to medium silt 36.4% and more or less equal percentage of fine sand and fine silt.During May, soil moisture content was 25.5% in 2008 and 25% in 2009.The month of August in each sampling year showed maximum moisture content in soil (34.5% in 2008 and 35% in 2009).During May, other soil factors such as temperature, pH and organic carbon were found 35°C, 6.9 & 1.3%; 37°C, 6.8 & 1.5% in 2008 and 2009 respectively.The mean values of other factors revealed more or less identical characteristics (Table -3).

Seasonal changes
The seasonal changes in number of each predominant species of Collembola as observed in this site have been shown in figure.The most dominant species Lepidocyrtus exploratorius had reached at its peak in August in both the years.Lepidocyrtus medius showed its peak in August, 2008  that predominant forms of this site exhibited an irregular trend of fluctuation being minimum in May-June slightly higher in December/January and higher in August-September.The population peak of other genera/species varied among the years as well as month of observation due to their irregular occurrence in this field (Fig. 6).
Location and Characteristic of sampling site-IV: This locality was periphery of the river Ichamoti.This site was chosen as an experimental site for collection of soil micro-arthropods fauna because it is semi disturbed by human population.This area is under the buffer zone where large number of tall trees, herbs and shrubs were present.Soil was moist and alluvial in nature.-4).

Collembolan Fauna
The Collembolan fauna obtained from this site belonged to 10 species under 9 genera.The species Lepidocyrtus medius was found most dominant form with 18.46%.The species Lepidocyrtus magnificus was recorded the second dominant 17.69% of the total fauna recorded from this site.The species Isotomiella minor contributed 12.11 % followed by Isotomina thermophila contributed 10.38%, Ballistrura bengalensis contributed 9.23%, Xenylla obscura contributed 8.07%, Entomobrya sp contributed 6.9%, and Cyphoderus javanus contributed 6.3%, Maximum percentage of collembolan population was obtained in August of both the years followed by December-January which coincided with the maximum concentration of soil factors like-moisture, organic carbon and low concentration of soil pH (Fig. 7).

Seasonal changes
The month wise changes in abundance of individual predominant species of Collembola recorded from this site have been shown in Fig. Maximum  Isotomina thermophila showed population peak in November of both the year, where as Ballistrura bengalensis exhibited its peak in January of both the year.It became apparent that predominant forms of the site exhibited an irregular trend of fluctuation being minimum in May, slightly higher in December/January/ February and higher in August-September.The peak of population of other genera / species varied among the years as well as month of observation due to their irregular occurrence (Fig. 8).

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF DATA
The statistical analysis of the complex soil faunal communities has been conducted to show the Monthly abundance of collembolain relation to edophic factor in site IV relationship between the soil factors and Collembola.The application of LINEAR CORRELATION and ANOVA (One way analysis) were undertaken in the present study involving the data of soil factors and collembolan population densities of soil separately for each site.All the analysis has been carried out by using MINITAB statistical software.

LINEAR CORRELATION
The correlation coefficient Cr' value) of each variable (i.e. total population of Collembola and four edaphic factors (temperature, moisture, pH, organic carbon) on each other in individual site were shown (Table 5-8).
The correlation revealed identical relationship between the biotic variables in four sites.The correlation coefficient data mentioned in the above table broadly indicated that the edaphic factors like moisture, organic carbon with the biotic variables showed strong positive correlation in almost four sites.The correlation coefficient Cr' value) in respect of other variables liketemperature and pH with the biotic variables was found to be negatively significant correlated in all four sampling sites with the population densities of Collembola.

ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE (ANOVA) : ONE WAY ANALYSIS
An univariate analysis of variant with the month as a factor have been carried out whether any significant seasonal fluctuation exist or not in the population of individual species of collembolan in the four sampling sites.The results of analysis are represented in the tables 9-12.

DISCUSSION
The ecological studies of this investigation were based on the sample survey of four sites from Bibhuti Bhushan Wild Life Sanctuary (B.B.W.L.S), Parmadan, over a period of 30 months (July, 2007to December, 2009).Three sampled sites from undisturbed core area the study.All the sites were in Gangetic plains exposed to tropical climate with humidity and temperature were comparatively low during winter months.The general natures of the soil of four sampling sites were more or less identical.

of forest floor site and remaining one from the disturbed
The Collembolan fauna of the four study sites area of buffer zone of the sanctuary were chosen for belonged to 16 species under 14 genera of 5 families : The number of genera occurring in four different sampling sites also varied, maximum extracted from the site-I (16 species under 14 genera) and minimum from disturbed area of buffer zone of the sanctuary (10 species under 9 genera).Out of the 14 genera, the predominant genera were Lepidocyrtus (3 species), Onychiurus(1 species), Xenylla (1 species), Cyphoderus (1 species), Cryptopygus (1 species), Ballistrura (1 species), Isotomina (1 species) and Salina(1 species) Sphyrotheca (1 species) and Sminthurides(1 species) mentioned in order of dominance.
The genus Lepidocyrtus were represented by 3 species like, L. exploratorius, L. medius and L. magnificus.The genus was found to be widely distributed in all sampling plots comprising 31.8 % of total population of collembola and being numerically dominant over other forms.The wide distribution range and numerical dominance suggest capability of this genus to dwell in varying ecological conditions.The species, Lepidocyrtus magnificus was seen the most dominant taxon of this genus and occupied first position in order of dominance in respect to the total number of collembola indicating maximum genera and species in the month of August.

IiI
The second predominant genus was Xenylla with single species obscura, comprising 10.45% of the total population in all the sites.The species was recorded in maximum from the sampling site II reaching its peak in January-February.
The third numerical dominant genus Cyphoderus represented by single species javanus was extracted in maximum number (9.83%) in February from all the aptly called "Ubiquist" or "ecological generalized groups".On the other hand, some forms were localized or restricted to ecological specialized group.
The nine genera of collembolans, Xenylla, Lepidocyrtus, Salina, Entomobrya, Cyphoderus, Ballistrura, Isotomiella, Isotomina and Sphyrotheca seemed to have wider tolerance to different encountered during the present discourse and they were 'Ubiquists" .Addison (1980) remarked that such faunal groups had the capacity to utilize different food sources and microhabitat for their survival while five genera namely, Onychiurus, Seira, Isotomurus, Cryptopygus and Sminthurides were said to be restricted and as such they were "Stenocious".
Hazra & Choudhuri (1990) studied the distribution pattern of soil arthropod particularly Collembola and Acari of 14 kinds of ecosystems of West Bengal and found 2 "ubiquists" genera Lepidocyrtus and Cyphoderus and 23 "Stenocious"species.In another observation Hazra and Sanyal (1996) recorded 4 "ubiquists" species and 11 "Stenocious" species from a deciduous reserve forest floor as well as two mangrove areas (one natural & another artificially raised) in a silt deposited island in the river Hooghly.
In the present study, the total population of collembolan of all the sampling sites showed numerical variation with the change of season with minimum in May in all four sites.Moreover, a general pattern of fluctuation with maximum in monsoon and minimum in pre-monsoon (May), which in agreement with Hazra andChoudhuri (1990) andHazra &Sanyal (1996).Mitra et al., (1977) and Hazra and Choudhuri (1990) showed that, surface soil vegetations exert an indirect influence on the collembolan population through its effect on the porosity of soil, humus formation and soil moisture in spite of different vegetation in most of the sampling sites.
According to Wallwork (1970), the Collembolan fauna of certain locality was determined by a complex factor of both ecological and historical.Therefore, the author is of the view that the degree of similarity in species composition between two sites could be used as an index of overall ecological similarity and the influence of vegetation type indirectly exert through its effect on soil type, micro floral composition or soil moisture.Hagvar (1982) observed increase of number of springtails with the increase of soil fertility in coniferous forest floor but the species diversity and number appeared maximum in medium rich soil.He also measured the fertility-scale in accordance to vegetation types and noted that the soil moisture,the vegetation would better indicate Collembolan fauna in more extreme environmental condition.Hazra and Sanyal (1996) found increase of the diversity of collembolan members in artificially raised mangrove forest of an island of the river Hooghly (West Bengal) and also said that the number increased with high concentration of moisture and nitrate.
According to Curry (1971) the maximum and minimum population were confined to a particular month or season of the years of observation in particular site which appears similar to the observations of workers in different parts of world.Study of maximum population in all sampling site in August and minimum in May tally with Mukherjee and Singh (1970).
During this investigation, only three predominant species Lepidocyrtus magnificus, L. medius and Isotomurus balteatus attained maximum population in August and two species, Xenylla obscura and in February.Entomobrya sp.reached its peak in January followed by Lepidocyrtus exploratorius, Seira indica, Isotomiella minor, Cryptopygus thermophilus, Cyphoderus javanus in March while Sinella curviseta and appeared largest population in the month of August.Individuals of other species like Ballistrura bengalensis, Onychiurus indicus, Salina bengalensis, Isotomina thermophila were numerically low in May with a very irregular trend of fluctuation and these were altogether absent in many of the sampling months.Thus, most of the predominant forms considered here were found to exhibit a single peak in a year.
According to Straalen (1997) some species had a sharp peak of collembolan community in respective months whereas others tend to fluctuate gradually throughout the year.Existence of single peak suggested the probability of single generation per year (Bellinger, 1954 andHale (1966).
The role of edaphic factors on the distribution and population pattern of different groups of soil inhabiting micro fauna and flora might be assumed that the factors so far analyzed in this study exerted both significant and insignificant effects either singly or in cumulative way depending on the nature of the site.The population was maximum when the factors like moisture, organic carbon were significantly high and other conditions were optimum.
Temperature and soil moisture appeared as the main driving variables for seasonal fluctuation of microarthropod population especially in temperature climate with dry summer period (Straalen, 1985, Satamou et al., 1993).In the summer month's soil temperature was significantly high and yielded minimum population on account of lesser water content and physical stability of the humus layer in this type of climate in West Bengal.
Of the edaphic factors studied, temperature showed wide variation with the change of season, ranging between 19°C and 37.5°C (Table-I-4).Collembolan population indicated negative correlation with temperature in all four sites which confirm the study of  , 1964) and made a conclusion that temperature alone did not show significant correlation.Thus it might be noted in this connection that the direct influence of temperature on the distribution pattern of soil arthropods was difficult to evaluate.The actual influence of temperature on the soil-organisms could be evaluated in conjunction with the effect of moisture which recorded minimum in summer thereby yielding low population.
Moisture content was recorded maximum (36%) and minimum (27%) respectively in all four sites and thus a range of variation was observed in two different seasons.The value of correlation of collembola with moisture was highly significant in all four sites (Table 5-8).Mukherjee and Singh (1970), Choudhuri and Ray (1972), Hazra and Choudhuri (1983, 90) and Guru et al. (1988) found positive but not significant correlation between the soil organisms and moisture.Choudhuri  (1972) and Singh and Pillai (1975) affirmed that soil humidity put its influence on micro-arthropods and collembolan in particular.Highly significant positive correlation with collembola and its monsoon population peak in all sampling sites was similar to Agrell (1941), Poole (1961), Knight (1961), Christiansen et al. (1961), Davis (1963), Gupta and Mukherjee (1976), Mitra et al.(1977), Hazra and Choudhuri (1981, '83).Haarlov  (1960) considered either moisture or organic matters as an important ecological factor in the life of collembola in Danish soil.However, Choudhuri and Roy (1967) and Nijima (1971) reported significant influence of organic matter and soil moisture on the population of Collembola.
According to Singh and Pillai (1975), the ecological parameters like soil temperature, moisture, organic matter and CaCo3 content of soil influence composition of soil fauna either individually or in combination with other.Hazra (1978a, b) and Hazra & Choudhuri (1990) suggested that organic matter and water content of soil together exerted direct or indirect influence on the microbial floral and faunal population by (i) maintaining soil reaction, (ii) controlling humification and (iii) stimulating the growth of micro-macro-flora.
The content of organic carbon varied between 1.3% and 4.1 % and exhibited strong positive correlations with the population densities of Collembola in all the sampling sites (Table 5-8).The concentration of large population of flora and fauna in the litter and humus layer suggested their affinity to organic matter.The high temperature and low moisture in the soil seemed to influence the amount of organic carbon as was Another important variable affecting the population fluctuation of soil biota was the soil pH which read minimum of 6.1 and maximum of 6.9 (Table .1-4).However, its average value in four sites did not differ much and was more or less neutral.The statistical analysis showed strong negative correlation with the population densities of Collembola and pH at all four sites which agreed with the findings of Agrell (1941), Bellinger (1954), Choudhuri et al. (1978) and Pal et al. (1992).According to Hazra and Choudhuri (1983), more or less neutral pH was favorable to soil organisms while Dhillon and Gibson (1962) opined for very little or no direct effect of soil pH on the floral and faunal make up.

SUl\1MARY
The fauna of the experimental sites belong to 16 species of 14 genera of five families: Hypogastruridae, Onychiuridae, Isotomidae, Entomobryidae and Sminthuridae.Maximum species diversity came in view from the Site-I with 16 species in 14 genera and the minimum in the Site IV with 10 species in 9 genera.
Soil factors like temperature, moisture, hydrogen ion concentration, organic carbon and the roles of these edaphic factors of soil on the distribution of collembola in the man made forest ecosystem were taken into consideration in the study.
The peak of population also varied from site to site being minimum in pre monsoon (summer months) and maximum population during monsoon (in the month of August & September).Soil factors viz, moisture, organic carbon, also showed significant positive correlation with the Collembolan population in all the sites while negative correlation was observed in respect to temperature and pH.

ACKNOWLEDGEl\1ENTS
We are grateful to the Director, Dr. K. Venkataraman, Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata for giving permission to carry out the project and laboratory facilities.Authors are grateful to Dr. A.K. Sanyal, Additional Director, Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata for helping various ways to carry out the project.We express our gratefulness to Dr. G. Thirumalai, Addl.Director and Officer in charge, Entomology Division for encouraging in various ways.We express our gratefulness to Dr. T.K. Pal, Additional Director and Officer in charge, Field Survey Division and Dr. Animesh Bal, Additional Director for their kind help.We are thankful to the sectional staff of the Apterygota namely-Shri K.L. Nath, Collection Tender and Shri N.C.Moitra, Laboratory Attendant for helping in collection and sorting out of collembolan specimens as well as soil parameter study.We are also thankful to the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Govt. of West Bengal & Shri Rana Dutta, Divisional Forest Officer of Bibhuti Bhushan Wild Life Sanctuary, Parmadan for providing necessary permission to carry out the project and logistic support.
AREA Bibhutibhusan Wildlife Sanctuary is located at Parmadan in North 24 Parganas District of West Bengal.It is named after Bibhuti Bhushan Bandopadhyay, a great writer.Spread out over 640 hectares of forestland, the park lies on the banks of Ichhamati River.The highlight of the sanctuary is spotted deer.Monkeys and birds can also be seen.Children's park and the mini zoo are nearby.The sanctuary is also known as Parmadan Deer Park and is around 120 km north-east of Kolkata.It is about 30 km from Bangaon city of North 24 pgs.It is a man made forest named as Bibhuti Bhushan Wild Life Sanctuary (B.B.W.L.S), Parmadan.LOCATION OF STUDY SITE The total area of the Bibhuti Bhushan Wild Life Sanctuary (B.B.W.L.S) has been selected four sites, three sites are from core area which was surrounded by fencing and the core area was totally undisturbed.The other site is on the bank of Ichamoti River under the buffer area which was semi-disturbed.The names of these four sites are -Site I: 100 meters from main entry gate of the core area towards south near three Arjun tree.Site II : Beside three uprooted logs, path no.l, and 100 mts from site 1, towards East.Site III: Four way crossing path, 200mts from second site, towards Western side.Site IV : Embankment of Ichamoti River, Bibhuti Bhushan Sanctuary.OBSERVATION SITE WISE ANALYSIS OF COLLEMBOLAN FAUNA The present investigation involves extraction of soil micro fauna from the sampling plots in four different sites such as : Site I: 100 meters from main entry gate of the core area towards south near three Arjun tree.Site II : Beside three uprooted logs, path no.l, and 100 mts from site 1, towards East.Site III : Four way crossing path, 200mts from second site, towards Western side.Site IV : Embankment of Ichamoti River, Bibhuti Bhushan Sanctuary.SITE-I: 100 METERS FROM MAIN ENTRY GATE OF THE CORE AREA TOWARDS SOUTH NEAR THREE ARJUN TREE Location and Characteristic of sampling site-I: This locality was situated 100 meters from main entry gate of the core area of the sanctuary covered by fencing.Soil was humid and alluvial in nature.Annual rainfall of the site and its surroundings ranges from 77-84 em and the forest comprises major trees like, Terminalia arjuna, Shorea robusta, Tectona grandis, Ficus religiosa, Mangifera indica and Azadirachta indica under growths like, Sporobolus diander, Dichanthium annulatum, Eragrostis brachyphylla, Digitaria marginata, D. royleana, Euphorbia hirta and Lanatana camara.The samapling site was Monthly abundance (Average population) collembolan species in site I ~ VJ VJ ~ l-< VJ VJ ~ VJ ro
sand and fine silt.During May, soil moisture content was 25.5% in 2008 and 26.5% in 2009.The month of August in sampling year showed maximum moisture content in soil (36.5% in 2007,34.5% in the same period of 2008 and 36% in 2009.During May, other soil factors such as temperature, pH and organic carbon, were found 34.5°C, 6.9, 1.3%; 36.5°C,6.9, 1.5%; in 2008 and 2009 respectively.Mean values of others revealed more or less identical characteristics (Table

Fig. 3 :
Fig. 2 : Monthly abundance of collembola in relation to edaphic factor in site-I.
SITE III : FOUR WAY CROSSING PATH, 200 MTS FROM SECOND SITE, TOWARDS WESTERN SIDE.Location and Characteristic of sampling site-III: Monthly abundance of collembolain relation to edophic factor in site II80 60 ~- Fig. 4 : Monthly abundance of collembola in relation to edaphic factor in site-II.
Fig. 8 : Monthly abundance of collembola in relation to edaphic factor in site-IV.
summer during when soil contain less amount of organic because of low moisture level and ready oxidation of organic matter.

Table - 3
: Values of edaphic factors per month (JULY, 2007-DEC, 2009) at site II, B.B.W.L.S, Parmadan but the year 2009 peak shifted to January.The population density of Xenylla obscura was maximum in January 2008 and it remained high during December-January in each year.Ballistrura bengalensis and Isotomina thermophila showed highest population peak during January in each year where as Entomobrya sp, Cyphoderus javanus and Sphyrotheca gangetica showed highest population peak during August in each year.It became apparent

Table - 5
: Correlation(r value) between individual collembolan species with edaphic factors at Site-I Table-6 : Correlation(r value) between individual collembolan species with edaphic factors at Site-II

Table - 7
: Correlation(r value) between individual collembolan species with edaphic factors at Site-III

Table - 8
: Correlation(r value) between individual collembolan species with edaphic factors at Site-IV

Table - 13
: Taxonomic status of the Collembolan species from the four study sites of B.B.W.L.S, Parmadon.

Table - 14
: UBIQUITUS & STENOCIOUS species of Collembola from the study sites