author(s)
Aijaz Ahmad Sheikh, GM Lone, NZ Rehman, Tariq A Bhat, Muneer A Sofi, Mohammad Amin Bhat and Sajad un Nabi

abstract
Soil arthropod population abundance in soil relies on the number of factors (biotic interactions such as competition and predation, presence or absence of organic matter, physiochemical features of the soil such as temperature, moisture, compaction and pH) which change from layer to layer in soil. These factors lead in vertical stratifications and ultimately changes the vertical distribution of soil fauna. The vertical distribution of arthropods extracted from soil in the apple ecosystem of Kashmir was investigated for the period of May 2013 to March 2014. Apple orchard soil was sampled at depths 0-15 cm, 16-30 cm and 31-45 cm. Population abundance of soil fauna showed maximum population in the upper depth in each month. Moreover, highest (16.33 individuals/sample) were reported in the month of August and lowest (1.33 individuals/sample) were recorded in February in the upper depth. Further, The mean monthly relative abundance of soil arthropods showed 46.15-66.66% population confined upto 0-15 cm depth followed by 16-30 cm depth 25.92-35.24% population and lowest percentage of population 12.90-21.43% was recorded at 31-45 cm depth.