Seasonally dry tropical forests are strongly affected by anthropogenic disturbance and climate changes, which represent the main threats to soil biodiversity, affecting the activity and functional composition of soil communities that provide crucial ecosystem functions and services. However, the effects of these factors and their interactions on soil nematodes, which are bioindicators of soil quality and health, remain poorly understood in the seasonally dry tropical forests. Thus, we investigated the effects of land use and seasonality on the structure and function of nematode components of the soil food web in Caatinga dry forest, north-eastern Brazil. The study was conducted in Catimbau National Park, Pernambuco State, which covers 607 km2 of Caatinga vegetation. Soil samples were collected in dry and rainy seasons in three types of land use: mature forest, agricultural areas, and secondary forest. We quantified the abundance, biomass carbon and metabolic footprint of each functional guild of nematodes. In this study, a total of 104 and 115 nematode genera were identified in the dry and rainy season, respectively. The biomass carbon and metabolic footprints of the total nematode assemblage, and of bacterivores, fungivores and omnivore-predators, were affected by types of land use and seasons. The soil organic carbon and metabolic footprints of nematodes were lower in agricultural areas than in mature forest and secondary forest, and lower in the dry season than in the rainy season. In all types of land use and in both seasons, we verified that most resource assimilation into the soil food web was via the bacterial channel. The enrichment footprint was positively related to the level of soil organic carbon and the structure footprint to the enrichment footprint. In turn, the interactive effect between types of land use and seasonality was observed only for soil organic carbon, biomass carbon of omnivore-predators and the fungal footprint. In general, the differences between types of land use became more significant during the rainy season. In general, our study indicates that change of land use and rainfall in the Caatinga affect the magnitudes of ecosystem functions of functional guilds of nematodes.

季节性干燥的热带森林受到人为干扰和气候变化的强烈影响，这是对土壤生物多样性的主要威胁，影响了提供关键生态系统功能和服务的土壤群落的活动和功能组成。然而，在季节性干燥的热带森林中，对这些因素及其相互作用对土壤线虫的影响尚不甚了解，而土壤线虫是土壤质量和健康的生物指标。因此，我们调查了巴西东北部Caatinga干旱森林中土地利用和季节性对土壤食物网线虫成分的结构和功能的影响。这项研究是在伯南布哥州的Catimbau国家公园进行的，该公园覆盖了607平方公里的Caatinga植被。在三种雨季和雨季收集土壤样品：成熟林，农业区和次生林。我们量化了每个功能性线虫协会的丰度，生物量碳和代谢足迹。在这项研究中，在干旱和雨季分别确定了总共104和115个线虫属。整个线虫组合以及细菌，真菌和杂食性捕食者的生物量碳和代谢足迹都受到土地利用类型和季节的影响。农业区线虫的土壤有机碳和代谢足迹低于成熟林和次生林，而旱季则低于雨季。在所有类型的土地利用中和两个季节中，我们都验证了大部分资源同化进入土壤食物网是通过细菌渠道。富集足迹与土壤有机碳水平呈正相关，结构足迹与富集足迹呈正相关。反过来，仅针对土壤有机碳，杂食动物捕食者的生物量碳和真菌足迹观察到土地利用类型与季节之间的相互作用。通常，在雨季，土地利用类型之间的差异变得更加明显。通常，我们的研究表明，Caatinga中土地利用和降雨的变化会影响线虫功能协会的生态系统功能。在雨季，土地利用类型之间的差异变得更加明显。通常，我们的研究表明，Caatinga中土地利用和降雨的变化会影响线虫功能协会的生态系统功能。在雨季，土地利用类型之间的差异变得更加明显。通常，我们的研究表明，Caatinga中土地利用和降雨的变化会影响线虫功能协会的生态系统功能。