Soil macrofauna in pasture area in the municipality of Macaíba, RN

Abstract

Different vegetation cover and agricultural practices may affect the soil macrofauna population, mainly due to the difference in litter structure, which has nutritional function and habitat for these organisms. The objective of this study was to characterize the abundance, richness and diversity of the edaphic macrofauna in an area of pasture in the municipality of Macaíba, RN. We collected the macrofauna organisms with Provid type traps allocated randomly in the area, remaining for a period of 96 hours in the field. We take the samples to the Forest Ecology Laboratory / UFRN, where we extracted and stored the sampled organisms in a solution of ethyl alcohol 70%. Then, we counted and identified the macrofauna organisms from the large taxonomic and functional groups. The abundance, richness and diversity were evaluated through the Shannon Diversity Indexes and Pielou Uniformity. Total number of macrofauna individuals sampled was 212, distributed in ten taxonomic groups. The Shannon Diversity Index and Pielou Equitability in the study area was 0.5. This result confirms the dominance of the Hymenoptera group over the other taxonomic groups. Hymenoptera groups and ecosystem engineers are more expressive in the sampling performed indicating low richness, diversity and equitability of the edaphic macrofauna in the study area.