Abstract: The arthropod communities were investigated by sampling at an interval of two months for one year in four types of tea plantations: organic tea plantation (OTP), tri-row dense tea tree plantation (TRDTTP), and high yield tea plantation (HYTP) Every types of tea garden planted the Anjibaicha tea cultivar with the same tea plant age, as well as the tea cultivar garden (TCG) growing with Anjibaicha, Longjin 43 and other over forty cultivars. The results showed that: ① Species richness and abundance of natural enemies decreased progressively from TCG, OTP, TRDTTP to HYTP, whilst the total abundance in TRDTTP was the highest among the four types of tea plantations. ② For the vertical stratification of arthropod communities, higher species richness and abundance of the natural enemies in HYTP, TRDTTP and TCG existed at the middle layer of tea plant than in the other layers, whereas the highest species richness and abundance occurred at the upper layer in OTP, the highest species richness of various pests occurred at the middle layer of tea plant in HYTP, TRDTTP and TCG, and at the upper layer in OTP; the highest abundance (overall individual numbers) of pests existed at the lower layer in HYTP and TRDTTP, and at the middle layer in TCG and OTP. ③ Horizontally, the sum of species richness and the sum of abundance of the natural enemies toward the eastward and the westward were more than those toward the southward and the northward in the all plantations except TCG. ④ The species richness and the abundance of pests existed in the inner layers of tea canopies were slightly higher than those in the outer layers for all four tea plantations, whilst the species richness and the abundance of the natural enemies occurred in outer layers were slightly more than those in the inner layers. ⑤ A relatively low species richness was recorded from December to February (overwinter period), while higher species richnesses were detected in April, June and October. ⑥ The diversity indices of arthropod communities decreased progressively from OTP, TCG, HYTP to TRDTTP. It is suggested that the different field management models (different types of tea plantations) might lead to the significant differences in the temporal and spatial patterns (structures) and the diversity of the arthropod communities in tea plantations.

Key words: tea plantations, field management models, arthropod community, temporal and spatial patterns, biodiversity