Soil mesofauna in consolidated land use systems: how management affects soil and litter invertebrates

Abstract

Soil mesofauna consists of small invertebrates that live in the soil or litter and are sensitive to climatic conditions, management systems, plant cover and physical or chemical soil attributes. These organisms are active in the cycling of nutrients, since they fragment the organic matter hereby accelerating microbial decomposition. The aim of this study was to evaluate the invertebrate community in no-tillage, conventional tillage, minimum tillage and secondary forest in regeneration to determine the relationship of mesofauna to litter, soil attributes, management and seasonality. Therefore, ten soil samples in each system and eight litter samples in no-tillage and the forest were taken over four seasons. These samples remained in Berlese extractors for seven days for quantification and identification of mesofauna. For each fauna sample, soil samples were collected for chemical analysis. Next, diversity indices and richness were calculated and multivariate analyses were used to establish relationships between the mesofauna, soil attributes and management. In the soil, mites were more abundant in the agricultural systems than in the forest, but the springtails, sensitive to low moisture and high temperature, were more abundant in the forest. Diversity and richness were higher in soil from the forest than under other systems. In no-tillage, there was a lower density of soil mesofauna, however, under this system, many invertebrates live in litter, since litter is the main food resource for them. In forest litter, we found lower invertebrate density and higher diversity than in no-tillage. Carbon, basic cations, pH, Al and V% were the attributes that best explained fauna variability in the systems.

Ecosystem Function of Soil Invertebrates and Relationships of Soil Properties From Different Agriculture Field in University Campus and Private Farm in Peninsular Malaysia

“…Hymenoptera, which primarily comprises ants, refers to highly mobile organisms mainly living on top of the soil surface to scavenge foods and is commonly reported as soil fauna (Mateos et al, 2011;Manhães et al, 2013;Maqtan et al, 2018). In organic farms wherein the small vegetation dominates with light coil covers, the macrofauna group accounted for only 53.93%, with mesofauna being the highest at 43.22% (Menta, 2012;Zagatto et al, 2019). The microfauna in all study areas ranged from 0.66%-2.85%.…”

Soil Macroinvertebrate Distribution Along a Subalpine Land Use Transect

“…Interestingly, parameters determining the distinction between land use types in terms of species diversity and community composition were primarily climatic ones (ie soil temperature and soil moisture as results of CCA and linear mixed effects models). These seem to be more important than abiotic ones (eg organic matter content [SOM], pH; Tables 1, 2), since many soil invertebrates are sensitive to low soil moisture and high soil temperatures (Christenson et al 2017;Zagatto et al 2019).…”

Soil Quality in Agroecological Production Areas in Southern Brazil: Indicators Based on Farmers' Perception

“…In general, the mites and springtails population was low in the areas of agroecological seed production (Table 4), possibly due to the time when the samples were collected (May 2018, early autumn in Brazil). According to Zagatto et al (2019) in plowed systems, the abundance of soil mesofauna is higher in the winter season and decaying going into summer, and reaching a new increase in abundance in autumn.…”