The influence of land use systems on soil and surface litter fauna in the western region of Santa Catarina

Marie Luise Carolina Bartz,Álvaro Luiz Mafra,Dilmar Baretta,George Gardner Brown,Renato Orso

doi:10.1590/s1806-66902014000500003

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the abundance of soil and surface litter fauna in the western region of Santa Catarina state, southern Brazil, in the following land use systems (LUS): no-tillage crops (NT), integrated crop-livestock (ICL), pasture (PA), Eucalyptus plantation (EP) and native forest fragments (NF). Sampling was done in three counties in the western region of Santa Catarina: Xanxerê, Chapecó and São Miguel do Oeste, in two seasons (winter and summer). The evaluation of soil/litter fauna in each LUS was performed by installing nine "pitfall traps" per sampling grid (3 x 3). The counties are true replicas. The soil for the chemical attributes was collected at the same sampling points for soil fauna. Altogether, 17 taxa were identified in the five LUS. The presence of groups of fauna was influenced by the type of soil management used. The LUS NF and EP provide better soil conditions for the development of a higher diversity of soil fauna groups compared to other LUS, which showed varying degrees of human intervention, regardless of the sampling season (winter or summer). However, annual crop systems NT and ICL groups showed greater richness and total abundance when compared to the perennial systems (EP and PA). Principal component analysis is an important tool in the study of biological indicators of sustainability because it allows use of soil attributes (chemical and physical) as explanatory environmental variables, which helps in the interpretation of ecological data.

Highlights

The intensification of land use and severe anthropic interventions, whether for human occupancy or agricultural production, lead to changes in soil quality
The aim of this study was to evaluate the abundance of soil and surface litter fauna in the western region of Santa Catarina state, southern Brazil, in the following land use systems (LUS): no-tillage crops (NT), integrated crop-livestock (ICL), pasture (PA), Eucalyptus plantation (EP) and native forest fragments (NF)
The relative frequency of the groups in the winter season was influenced by the LUS and the groups most frequently found in all LUS were: Collembola, Acarina, Coleoptera and Formicidae (Figure 1)

Summary

Introduction

The intensification of land use and severe anthropic interventions, whether for human occupancy or agricultural production, lead to changes in soil quality. Soil quality is defined as the ability of soil to function within the ecosystem and the limit of soil use and that allows biological sustainability as well as contributes to the maintenance and growth of plants, animals and man (BARETTA et al, 2011; BONEA et al, 2010). The organisms found in soil and surface litter, especially the representatives of meso and macrofauna, have a determining role in soil processes, such as: nutrient cycling, organic matter decomposition and improvement of such physical attributes as aggregation, porosity and water infiltration (BARETTAet al.,2011; HUERTA;WAL, 2012). Physical, chemical and microbiological attributes can be used as explanatory environmental variables to understand the functioning of the soil, and to assess their influence on the diversity of edaphic invertebrates such as springtails and other groups (BARETTA et al, 2008a; VASCONCELLOS et al, 2013). Among the main features of no-tillage is that minimal soil preparation, a constant soil cover and crop rotation creat more favorable conditions for the development of soil organisms, that are practically absent in monocropped-conventional tillage, resulting in higher soil degradation, increased compaction and the lack of food, especially the absence of cover necessary for the survival of the soil organisms (ALVES; BARETTA; CARDOSO, 2006; BARTZ et al, 2013; BROWN et al, 2003)

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