Abstract: Soil is an important reservoir of entomopathogenic fungi in the fields. The community structure and species diversity of the entomopathogenic fungi in the soil of four tea gardens in Yingde, Guangdong province was investigated. Four genus and 8 species of entomogenous fungi was identified, and their population dynamics were monitored by the selective medium technique. The results showed Paecilomyces lilacinus dominated the community by a population percentage of 90.20% to the total, and followed by Metarhizium anisopliae of 5.60%. Community diversity of the entomogenous fungi changed with seasons. The brillouin diversity index reached peak at a value of 0.7148 and 0.6918 in spring and in summer, and decreased to 0.4940 and 0.4302 in autumn and in winter, respectively. The more complex of plant structure in the tea gardens showed, the higher biological diversity of entomogeneous fungi in the soil of the tea gardens was found. The monocultured tea garden shaded by tree layer had a diversity index of 1.0651, which far higher than that of 0.3393 of the garden without tree layer. More cultivars of tea bush in a garden increase the diversity and richness of entomopathogenic fungi in the soil. The diversity index was also increased. Plant structure played an important ecological role in increasing diversity of an entomopathogenic fungi community in a tea garden soil.

Key words: tea garden, soil, entomopathogenic fungi, community structure, biological diversity