Abstract
The soil fauna is one of the bioindicators of soil quality that has greater sensitivity, being easily altered by changes that occur in natural and agricultural ecosystems. The objective of this work was to evaluate the density and diversity of the soil macrofauna and the functional groups of the epigeal macrofauna that are most representative in no-tillage, pasture, eucalyptus cultivation and native savanna systems in Uruçuí, Piauí, Brazil. Five soil management systems were used: pasture (PAS); no tillage soybean in corn straw (NT1); no tillage of corn under straw of mombaça grass (NT2); eucalyptus (EUC), in addition to a savanna area used as a reference (FA). Fauna collection was performed using pitfall traps containing 4% formaldehyde. The fauna was evaluated by the number of individuals per trap per day, wealth, average wealth, Shannon’s diversity index and Pielou’s uniformity index. The data was subjected to analysis of variance, and when significant, was subjected to the Friedman test. The pasture system had the least impact on edaphic fauna when compared to native savanna forest and when compared to management systems and the collembola, orthoptera and diptera groups were the most abundant in the studied management systems.
Highlights
Any anthropic intervention can potentially affect the dynamics of the soil epigeal fauna and, the ecological functions in which it is involved. In this sense, considering the importance of edaphic fauna biodiversity for soil quality and the constant changes in land use, this study aimed to evaluate the density and diversity of soil macrofauna and the functional groups of the most representative epigeal macrofauna in no-till, pasture, eucalyptus cultivation and native savanna systems in Uruçuí, Piauí, Brazil
There were changes in the soil fauna variables evaluated as a function of the soil management system, corroborating other works in the savanna piauiense (Santos et al, 2016; Araújo et al, 2017)
The lowest number of individuals collected per trap day-1 was recorded in the native savanna forest (FA), while the no-till farming system 1 (NT1) showed the highest values, differing from the others (Table 3)
Summary
The soil invertebrate community can be conserved when the agricultural system provides a similar environmental structure to the original ecosystem. The edaphic fauna benefits from management systems that provide environmental conditions that favor the reproduction of invertebrates and a higher quality and quantity of plant residues, which serve as food and shelter (Nunes et al, 2019). Studies conducted by Santos et al (2016), characterizing fauna in production systems in savanna areas in southwestern Piauí show that the no-till farming system provides greater abundance and richness of families compared to conventional soil preparation. In relation to the planted forest of eucalyptus, Cortez et al (2015) observed that the large amount of burlap generated by the crop provides favorable environmental conditions for a greater diversity of soil fauna organisms
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