Elevational gradients can serve as natural experiments to study how species are restricted spatially according to environmental conditions. The variation in resources and conditions that habitats experience in relation to the seasons can be useful for understanding why the abundance and distribution of the species change temporarily. In this study, we evaluated the influence of an altitudinal gradient and seasonality on the composition, richness (S), diversity (Hʹ), and density of arthropod community associated with litter in a conserved Abies-Quercus forest in Central Mexico. We defined five altitudinal ranges in an altitudinal gradient that oscillated between 2570 and 2770 m, in which edaphic factors [pH, organic matter (OM), carbon (C), total nitrogen (N), total phosphorous (P), C/N, C/P, N/P ratios] and environmental temperature were characterized. Litter arthropods were collected through this vertical gradient in dry and rainy season. We identified 163 species belonging to 22 orders. Arthropods composition on each elevation zone is significantly different from one another in both seasons. The highest abundance and S values through altitudinal gradient were registered in the rainy season; in contrast, H’ values were higher during the dry season. We detected a significant negative effect related to the altitude on S, Hʹ and abundance of litter arthropods during the dry season and total data. An exception was the rainy season in which we did not detect any pattern. The community similarity reduces as altitude increases. Surprisingly, the intermediate altitudinal range showed the higher density values in the rainy season. On the other hand, OM, C/N and C/P ratios had a negative influence on litter community parameters analyzed in the rainy season and total data. In contrast, P shows a positive influence on S of litter arthropods in the same period. Edaphic characteristics recorded along the altitudinal gradient can explain differences in litter arthropod communities.

海拔梯度可以作为自然实验来研究物种如何根据环境条件在空间上受到限制。栖息地与季节有关的资源和条件的变化可能有助于理解为什么物种的丰度和分布会暂时改变。在这项研究中，我们评估了海拔梯度和季节性对在保育的冷杉树种中与凋落物相关的节肢动物群落的组成，丰富度（S），多样性（Hʹ）和密度的影响。中部墨西哥的森林。我们定义了一个在2570至2770 m之间波动的海拔梯度的五个海拔范围，其中的水生因子[pH，有机物（OM），碳（C），总氮（N），总磷（P），C / N ，C / P，N / P比]和环境温度进行了表征。在干旱和雨季，通过这种垂直梯度收集了节肢动物节肢动物。我们确定了163个物种，属于22个订单。每个海拔地区的节肢动物组成在两个季节都显着不同。最高的丰度和通过海拔梯度的S值记录在雨季。相反，在干旱季节H'值较高。我们发现与海拔高度有关的重大负面影响S，Hʹ和枯季节肢动物的节肢动物数量和总数据。一个例外是在雨季，我们没有发现任何模式。社区相似度随着海拔的升高而降低。令人惊讶的是，在雨季中，中间的海拔范围显示出更高的密度值。另一方面，OM，C / N和C / P比对雨季分析的凋落物群落参数和总数据有负面影响。相反，P在同一时期对凋落节肢动物的S表现出积极影响。沿海拔梯度记录的岩性特征可以解释节肢动物节肢动物群落的差异。