Abstract

CABRERA-DAVILA, Grisel de la Caridad et al. Evaluation of the macrofauna as indicator of the health status in seven land use systems, in Cuba. Pastos y Forrajes [online]. 2017, vol.40, n.2, pp.118-126. ISSN 0864-0394.

The effect of seven land use systems on the soil macrofauna was studied, and fauna indicators were suggested to evaluate the impact of land use and the health status of the soil medium. Sampling was conducted in the rainy season, between 2009 and 2013, according to the TSBF standard methodology, and six soil monoliths were studied per land use replica. The macrofauna composition, richness and abundance were determined to the taxonomy level of family. A non-parametric variance analysis was made, to detect possible differences in the abundance among land use systems. As fauna indicators, the following were proposed: detritivores/non-detritivores and earthworms/ants. Such relations showed the superiority of detritivore individuals and earthworms with values close to or higher than 1, especially in forests, where there was higher soil cover and protection. In land use systems with higher disturbance degree values close to zero were obtained. A high abundance of detrivores or earthworms and a lower quantity of non-detritivore individuals or ants can represent systems with little or no disturbance and favorable fertility status. An inverse result shows more intense soil disturbance and degradation conditions. The earthworms/ants indicator is of higher practical usefulness, because the groups involved are easily identified and do not need specialized knowledge.

Keywords : soil degradation; soil fertility; biological indicator.

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