30 Citations
Soil macrofauna communities were evaluated in a number of land use systems on private farms in Jaguapitã, Paraná, Brazil. Sampling was performed in March and September 2004 in nine land uses: 1) a 15-year old pasture (JM) previously sown with Paspalum sp., and recently renovated with Cynodon sp. grass; 2) a 15-year old degraded pasture of Paspalum sp.; 3) a >15-year old pasture of Paspalum sp., recently renovated with Urochloa brizantha; 4) a degraded >15-year old Paspalum sp. pasture; 5) a six-year old soybean cropping system, established over an old Paspalum sp. pasture; 6) a 2-year old soybean cropping system after long-term Paspalum sp. pasture; 7) a recently renovated Urochloa brizantha + Urochloa decumbens pasture after several years of annual grain cropping; 8) and 9) two recently established (1 year old) sugarcane plantations, converted from >15 year old pastures. In each land use, 25 samples were taken in a square grid of 5x5 samples, with 10 m between sampling points. Of the total, five samples (along the diagonal) were taken down to 30 cm depth, and the remaining only to 0-10 cm depth. Samples were taken using the standard methodology of the Tropical Soil Biology and Fertility Programme (TSBF), where soil and litter fauna were hand-sorted from monoliths of 25x25 cm, and the abundance of a total of 42 taxa was assessed.