Abstract

NICOSIA, Salvador et al. Mesofauna community structure in two soilswith different use intensity. Cienc. suelo [online]. 2020, vol.38, n.1, pp.72-80. ISSN 1850-2067.

The increase in soil use intensity is a part of global change and it is relevant for agroecosystem degradation, risking soil sustainable use and threatening the loss of ecosystem services provided by soils. The soil fauna has a relevant role in providing those ecosystem services, such as organic matter decomposition, microbiological activity, and nutrient cycling. Intensive agricultural practices affect soil fauna, modifying its composition and richness. Its study can then be a useful descriptor of soil conservation status. The objective of this work was to test the existence of structure changes in the soil mesofauna associated to two different soil use intensities. Soil mesofauna samples associated to leaflitter of two argiudoil soils with different use intensity were collected: soils with 40 years of intensive agriculture under no-tillage, and soils of naturalized pastures for at least 50 years. Decomposition bags were placed under the leaflitter, and one bag was removed at regular intervals during 8 months. Arthropods present in the samples were separated by Berlesse funnel and identified at the highest possible taxonomic milevel. The results show that the structure of the soil community between the contrasted systems differs and that this difference varies with sampling moment. By means of main component analysis, the existence of differences between both communities was determined and an analysis of similarity by permutations, ADONIS, confirms the differences in community structure. The detection of structural differences between systems confirms the sensitivity of soil arthropods to different use intensities. These results also suggest that no-tillage system, when properly implemented, is a sustainable practice.

Keywords : Anthropic impact; ecosystem services loss; sustainable use; no-tillage.

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