Diversidade da macrofauna epiedáfica em diferentes usos do solo na área experimental da Universidade Federal da Fronteira Sul – Campus Cerro Largo

Abstract

The macrofauna is composed by organisms whose body diameter is over 2mm (bugs, spiders, earthworms, and others) and make up an important set of ground organisms, in which the individuals act on degradation of cultural remains and creation of galleries, contributing to soil’s aeration and structure, besides incorporating deep organic material. The present data collection took place during the agricultural year of 2017/2018 at the experimental area of Universidade Federal da Fronteira Sul, in Cerro Largo, northwest of Rio Grande do Sul state. Its goal was to evaluate human effects of agriculture over the diversity and abundance of organisms in the macrofauna of soil invertebrates in native forests (M), fallow areas (P), and conventional and direct planting system areas (SPC and SPD), where we looked for which system/handling better approaches the natural one (native forest). The order Hymenoptera presented the largest number of individuals in both the first and second collections, followed by the orders Coleoptera, Diptera and Hemiptera. During both collections, the native forest and direct planting system areas presented greater order richness, although less abundance when compared to fallow and conventional planting system areas. Based on the collected data, we conclude that the direct planting system showed the better results, since it was the production system which obtained the largest taxon diversity, the less dominance between taxons, and the best individuals distribution between taxons, showing that, when well handled, it is the best way of agricultural exploration, having the greatest proximity to the natural environment.