In order to understand the differences among population quantities and community structure of pests and their natural enemies in tea gardens of different altitudes, and to provide a scientific basis for integrated pest management (IPM) in tea gardens, in the present work, systematical investigations were conducted at three tea gardens of different altitude heights (i.e. 698.6 m (high), 270 m (medium) and 46 m (low)) by using the survey method of parallel jumping sampling. Analysis of variance showed that pests of significant differences among the three tea gardens of different altitude heights were Empoasca vitis (Gothe), Dialeurodes citri (Ashmead), Brevipalpus theae (Ma et Yuan), Scirtothrips dorsalis (Hood), Ricania cacaonic (Chou et Lu) and Holochlora nawae (Matsumura et Shiraki), and their F values were 39.97, 21.09, 8.29, 21.10, 6.24 and 46.27, respectively; whilst enemies of significant differences among the three tea gardens of different altitude heights were Theridion octomaculatum (Boes. et Str.), Tetragnatha maxillosa (Thorell), Enoplognatha japonica (Boes. et Str.), Neoscona theisi (Walckenaer), and their F values were 7.49, 8.00, 18.61 and 17.36, respectively. The statistical analyses further showed that the first main pests were Empoasca vitis (Gothe), Dialeurodes citri (Ashmead), Brevipalpus theae (Ma et Yuan) and Holochlora nawae (Matsumura et Shiraki) in high-altitude tea garden; and Scirtothrips dorsalis (Hood) and Ceroplastes rubens (Maskell) in mid-altitude tea garden. Whilst the first natural enemies were Tetragnatha maxillosa (Thorell) and Theridion octomaculatum (Boes. et Str.) in high-altitude tea garden; and Clubiona japonicola (Boes. et Str.) in mid-altitude tea garden; as well as Neoscona theisi (Walckenaer) and Enoplognatha japonica (Boes.et Str.) in low-altitude tea garden. Furthermore, the results demonstrated that the main pests also have Scirtothrips dorsalis (Hood) and Ricania cacaonic (Chou et Lu) in high-altitude tea garden; and Empoasca vitis (Gothe) and Brevipalpus theae (Ma et Yuan) in mid-altitude tea garden; as well as Empoasca vitis (Gothe), Scirtothrips dorsalis (Hood), Dialeurodes citri (Ashmead) and Ceroplastes rubens (Maskell) in low-altitude tea garden. Whilst the main natural enemies also have Erigonidium graminicolum (Sundevall), Neoscona theisi (Walckenaer) and Enoplognatha japonica (Boes. et Str.) in high-altitude tea garden; and Theridion octomaculatum (Boes. et Str.), Erigonidium graminicolum (Sundevall), Tetragnatha maxillosa (Thorell), Lycosa pseudoannulata (Boes. et Str.) and Misumenops tricuspidatus (Fabr.) in mid-altitude tea garden; as well as Theridion octomaculatum (Boes. et Str.), Tetragnatha maxillosa (Thorell), Erigonidium graminicolum (Sundevall), Clubiona japonicola (Boes. et Str.) and Lei axyridis (Pallas) in low-altitude tea garden.
Specially, the results of F-testing showed that there were highly significant differences in community diversity index (F=17.57), individual numbers (F=5.27) and evenness of arthropod community (F=23.46) among the three tea gardens of different altitudes (all F>F_0.01 =4.79). However, no statistically significant differences existed in numbers of species among the three tea gardens of different altitudes (F=2.32 < F_0.05 =3.07). The result indicated that the community diversity index in low-altitude tea garden was greater than that in high and medium-altitude tea garden. Furthermore, community diversity index and species numbers of phytophagous sub-communities in the three tea gardens of different altitudes also were further surveyed. The statistical results indicated that the F values for community diversity index and species numbers were, respectively, 1.70 and 1.74, indicating that no statistically significant differences existed in them (all F values < F_0.05=3.07). In contrast, there were highly significant differences in individual numbers (F=11.55) and evenness (F=7.87) among the three tea gardens of different altitudes (all F values > F_0.01 =4.79). Whilst statistically significant differences in community diversity index (F=5.13), species numbers (F=6.76) and individual numbers (F=8.78) of predacious sub-communities also existed in the three tea gardens of different altitudes (all F values > F_0.01 =4.79). The above three indexes in low-altitude tea garden was greater than those in high and medium-altitude tea garden. In addition, no statistically significant differences existed in evenness among the three tea gardens of different altitudes (F =1.06 < F _0.05 =3.07). These above results indicated that the total community diversity index and the relative stability values of communities in low-altitude tea garden were greatest in the three tea gardens of different altitudes.