Research Article Land Use Intensification Effects in Soil ...Research Article Land Use Intensification Effects in Soil Arthropod Community of an Entisol in Pernambuco State, Brazil

Research ArticleLand Use Intensification Effects in Soil Arthropod Communityof an Entisol in Pernambuco State Brazil

G M Siqueira1 E F F Silva2 and J Paz-Ferreiro3

1 Center of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Federal University of Maranhao BR-222 KM 04 Boa Vista sn65500-000 Chapadinha MA Brazil

2 Department of Rural Technology Federal Rural University of Pernambuco DomManoel deMedeiros sn 52171-900 Recife PE Brazil3 Faculty of Sciences University of Coruna Campus A Zapateira 15008 Coruna Spain

Correspondence should be addressed to J Paz-Ferreiro jpazudces

Received 17 July 2014 Revised 17 September 2014 Accepted 18 September 2014 Published 20 October 2014

Academic Editor Antonio Paz Gonzalez

Copyright copy 2014 G M Siqueira et al This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution Licensewhich permits unrestricted use distribution and reproduction in any medium provided the original work is properly cited

The interactions between soil invertebrates and land use and management are fundamental for soil quality assessment but remainlargely unaddressedThe aim of this study was to evaluate the changes in soil arthropod community of an entisol brought about bydifferent land use systems under semiarid climate in Pernambuco State BrazilThe soil invertebrate community was sampled usingpitfall traps from areas with eight vegetation types by the end of the austral winter The land uses studied were native thorn forestplus seven agricultural fields planted with elephant grass apple guava passion fruit carrot maize tomato and green pepper Nativevegetation was considered as a reference whereas the agricultural fields showed a range of soil use intensities The abundance oforganisms the total and average richness Shannonrsquos diversity index and the Pielou uniformity index were determined and all ofthese were affected by several crop and soil management practices such as residue cover weed control and pesticide applicationOur study found differences in community assemblages and composition under different land use systems but no single taxa couldbe used as indicator of soil use intensity

1 Introduction

Soil fauna include a large number of species that play acentral role in many essential ecosystem processes [1 2]When a natural system is shifted by human activities foragricultural or forestry purposes major changes occur inthe soil environment and in the fauna populations andcommunity The intensity of the modifications induced byland use changes compared with the original ecosystem andthe ability of the various soil organisms to adapt to thesechanges will determine the ultimate community present afterthe perturbation [3]

Agricultural practices can have a dramatic effect uponsoil invertebrate community Practices generally consideredas beneficial for the soil fauna include the management oforganic matter particularly the control of the quality orquantity of plant residues and the absence of soil tillageAlso crop rotation fertilization and liming may also playan important role in increasing the diversity of soil biota

The main practices generally considered as having negativeeffects on soil biota comprise the use of pesticides frequentand deep tillage inadequate soil cover and poormanagementof organic residues physical degradation contamination andpollution [3 4]

There is a current interest in improving both soil qualityand sustainable land management systems [5 6] Intensiveland use can lead to negative impacts on soil quality Whilephysical and chemical properties have been demonstratedto respond slower to changes in soil use and managementit is widely accepted that soil biological and biochemicalproperties and also soil organisms are suitable indicators ofsoil quality [4ndash9]

Macrofaunal organisms have been widely accepted asindicators of soil quality This is due to the important role offauna regulating processes such as the formation and stabilityof soil aggregates nutrient cycling and soil aeration Soilfauna provides top-down regulation of microbial responsesto soil quality alterations via the regulation of the bacterial

Hindawi Publishing Corporatione Scientific World JournalVolume 2014 Article ID 625856 7 pageshttpdxdoiorg1011552014625856

2 The Scientific World Journal

and fungal food webs in the soil Other physical processessuch as erosion and filtering can also be affected by soil fauna[1 4 7] In addition soil fauna measurements provide someadvantages compared to other biological methods tomeasuresoil quality as they rely on identifying and quantifying speciesliving in the soil rather than on nonstandardized chemicalanalyses

In particular soil arthropods have been used as indicatorsof soil quality in soils and to compare different managementsystems as they are regulated by anthropogenic impactsFrequently these studies have been done using single taxongroups including Acari Isopoda Coleoptera Araneae orCollembola [8ndash10] or integrative quality indices [11 12]

The interior region of northeastern Brazil is coveredby xeric shrubland and thorn forest locally referred to asldquoCaatingardquo unlike the Atlantic rain forest which bordersthe Atlantic see The ldquoCaatingardquo biome located between 3∘S45∘W and 17∘S 35∘W incorporates about 900000 km2 Thisnative vegetation typically consists of small thorny treesherbaceous vegetation only starts growing in the rainy seasonDue to the high demographic density (20ndash30 inhabitants perkm2) this is one of the most densely populated semiaridregions of the worldTherefore there is a pressure to cultivateas much land as possible Moreover agricultural land useinvolves a large number of small properties with contrastingmanagement systems including irrigated high input systemsand rainfed low input systems [13]

Intensive agricultural systems can produce negativeimpacts on soils including a loss of soil quality and bio-diversity These aspects should be evaluated as soil faunais sensitive to several soil management practices includingfertilizer use and tillage [14] or land use changes [15 16] Soilfauna is also sensitive to land degradation [17]

In spite of the essential role of arthropods in soil func-tioning there is not enough knowledge about how they areaffected by extensive andor intensive agricultural systemsIn particular the arthropod community along intensificationgradients has not been studied at the Brazilian CaatingaThus in this work we used soil arthropods as a mean toevaluate the effects of agricultural intensification on soilquality

2 Material and Methods

21 Study Site Climate Soil Type and Land Use The studyarea was located in Fazenda Nossa Senhora do RosarioPesqueira municipality (Pernambuco Brazil) at 8∘3410158401710158401015840Sand 37∘110158402010158401015840W The average altitude is 610m The climate inthe region is hot semiarid with dry austral summers andmore rainy winters (BShw according to Koppen) Averageannual temperature is 27∘C and average annual rainfall is600mm Usually the rainy season starts in December orJanuary

Fazenda Nossa Senhora do Rosario is located on analluvial valley (Figure 1) The soils of the studied fields wereentisols and they were classified as Fluvent and Orthentat the suborder level following the Soil Survey Staff [18]Fluvent and Orthent are equivalent to ldquoNeossoo fluvicordquo and

36∘52

9984000998400998400W 36

∘51

99840020

998400998400W36∘51

99840040

998400998400W

NW E

S

(1)

(2)(3)

(4)

(5)(6)

(8)(7)

DEM (m)604ndash617617ndash630630ndash643

8∘23

99840040

998400998400S

8∘24

9984000998400998400S

643ndash656656ndash669

Figure 1 Localization of the studied stands (scale = meters)

ldquoNeossolo Regolıticordquo respectively in the Brazilian Soil Clas-sification System [19] General properties of these two soiltypes are listed in Tables 1 and 2 Both Fluvent and Orthentwere sandy loam textured Soil pH at the surface horizon(0ndash20 cm) was slightly acid thus in the desired range foragricultural soils Cation exchange capacity (CEC) was lowas expected for tropical soils with values of 82 Cmol

+kgminus1

and 66 Cmol+kgminus1 for Fluvent and Orthent respectively

Organic matter content however was much higher forOrthent than for Fluvent

In this area production is carried out by small scalefarmers owning plots along the river valley Some fieldsare used as forage for cattle while most fields are subjectto cultivation The invertebrate community was evaluatedin 8 plots located within a thorn forest (which was takenas a reference) and in 7 agricultural fields with differentcultivation systems and vegetation cover Details about soiltype land use and soil and crop management of the sitesstudied are summarized in Table 3 A soil use intensity indexfor each of the studied stands was elaborated based on localexpert knowledge and is also listed in Table 3

The native forest (Caatinga) is a xeric or even hyperxericvegetation with thorny tress as dominant species In winterperiods the small thorny trees lose their leaves and theunderstory merely consists of cacti thick-stemmed plantsand arid-adapted grasses limiting the litter available for soilbiota During the brief rainy season however many annualplants grow flower and produce much more abundant litterdebris

The agricultural fields studied were cropped with dif-ferent plant species including elephant grass (Pennisetumpurpureum Schumach) apple guava (Psidium guajava L)passion fruit (Passiflora edulis Sims) carrot (Daucus carotaL) maize (Zea mays Mill) tomato (Solanum lycopersicumMill) and green pepper (Capsicum annuum L)

22 Sampling and Analysis of Active Fauna Soil fauna wassampled using the pitfall trap method during a seven-day

The Scientific World Journal 3

Table 1 Granulometric analysis as a function of depth of the soils studied

Fluvent (Neossolo Fluvico) Orthent (Neossolo Regolıtico)Depth (cm) Sand () Silt () Clay () Depth (cm) Sand () Silt () Clay ()0ndash20 6469 1978 1544 0ndash15 6568 1800 163220ndash40 6429 1841 1730 15ndash35 6024 2056 192040ndash60 6839 1565 1597 35ndash70 6352 1528 2120

Table 2 General chemical properties of the soils studied

Depth(cm)

Fluvent (Neossolo Fluvico)pH P Na K Mg Ca H CEC OC OMH2O mgdm3 cmolcdm3 gkg

0ndash20 62 100 014 025 17 28 331 820 024 042

Depth(cm)

Orthent (Neossolo Regolıtico)pH P Na K Mg Ca H CEC CO MOH2O mgdm3 cmolcdm3 gkg

0ndash20 65 41 009 028 085 185 351 658 436 752(CEC = cation exchange capacity OC = organic carbon OM = organic matter)

Table 3 Location soil type and soil and crop management of the studied natural and agricultural stands

Coordinates Altitude Soil type(SSA)

Soil type(BSCS) Vegetation Tillage and soil

coverWeeds atsampling Irrigation Pesticides Soil use

intensity8∘231015840388410158401015840S36∘511015840345210158401015840W 634m Fluvent Neossolo

FluvicoNatural vegetation(Caatinga Biome)

Uncultivatedsoil 100 covered mdash No No 0

8∘231015840472610158401015840S36∘511015840355610158401015840W 611m Fluvent Neossolo

Fluvico

Elephant grass(Pennisetumpurpureum)

Established 2 yearsago periodic grass

mowmdash No No 1


FluvicoApple guava

(Psidium guajava)

Established 3 yearsago soil 100

coveredYes No No 1


FluvicoPassion fruit

(Passiflora edulis)

Six months fallowbetween linescoverage

No Drip No 2

8∘231015840582310158401015840S36∘511015840390610158401015840W 621m Orthent Neossolo

RegolıticoCarrot

(Daucus carota)

Plowing and diskharrow soil partially

coveredYes Drip Yes 3


Regolıtico Maize (Zea mays)Plowing and disk

harrow soil partiallycovered

No Aspersion Yes 35


Fluvico

Tomato(Solanum

lycopersicum)

Plowing and diskharrow uncovered

between linesNo Drip Yes 5


Fluvico

Green Pepper(Capsicumannuum)


between linesYes Drip Yes 5

(SSA = Soil Survey Staff BSCS = Brazilian Soil Classification System)

period from 22 to 29 August 2013 Average temperatureduring the sampling period was 215∘C (average maxima282∘C and average minima 160∘C) Due to high evaporationrates the soil was dry even if two significant rainfall eventswere recorded before starting field fauna sampling theseevents occurred on 1 August (20mm) and on 19 August(10mm) Pitfall traps were made of plastic (9 cm height times8 cm diameter) [20] Five traps were installed per land useEach trap remained active for a week The glass was set flush

with the soil surface and contained 200mL of formaldehyde(4) The content of each glass was emptied afterwards inthe field into a container which was completed with 70alcohol for preservation of the specimens

Each sample was processed in the laboratory separatingand classifying the arthropods All the adult and juvenilespecimens were classified to the order level using a binocularmicroscope and taxonomic keys with some exceptionsWithin the order Hemiptera the suborder Heteroptera was


separated from the suborders Auchenorrhyncha and Sternor-rhyncha Acari was considered as an order The total numberof individuals were first counted per pitfall and taxa studied

The data were also converted into number of individ-uals per trap per day This parameter indicates the faunaabundance and was calculated for each taxonomic groupand for the total arthropod community sampled Aside fromabundance diversity of soil fauna was evaluated using thefollowing ecological indices mean richness (mean numberof taxa trapped per pitfall and land use) total richness (totalnumber of taxa trapped per land use regardless of trap)Shannon diversity index and Pielou equitability (or evenness)index

The Shannon-Weaner index was obtained as

119867 = minussum119901119894 sdot log 2 sdot 119901119894 (1)

where 119901119894 119899119894119873 119899119894 is number of individuals per trap perday for each of the orders studied (Indsdotarmsdotdiaminus1) and 119873is sum of individuals per trap per day This index describesthe diversity as a weighted geometric mean of the relativedistribution of abundance of the individuals between thegroups sampled

The Pielou evenness index is indicative of the uniformityof soil fauna for each land use and is calculated as follows

119880 =

119867

log 2119878 (2)

where119867 is Shannon index and 119878 is remaining groups presentin treatments

This index quantifies how equal the community isnumerically Close relative abundance of the studied taxa isindicated by high values of Pielou index

The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was applied to assess thenormality of the distribution of the data sets Data werelog-transformed to meet the requirements for parametricstatistical tests Only those arthropod groups that met thestatistical assumptions were analyzed Thus the groups ana-lyzed were available in high numbers Moreover most ofthe taxa were not assessed adequately with pitfall traps andwere excluded from further analyses As an example flyingorganisms are trapped with different techniques dependingon their behavior (eg stick and pheromone traps)

We used a one-way ANOVA to investigate the effects ofland use intensification on the densities of soil surface-activearthropods Differences between groups were assessed usingthe Tukey test

3 Results and Discussion

All together 6340 specimens were collected by pitfalls duringthe sampling period of seven days They were grouper perland use and taxonomic group (Table 4) The total numberof individuals trapped per land use showed wide differencesThe largest arthropod community was found under appleguava (3224 individuals) but carrot (959 individuals) andgreen pepper (974 individuals) also showed much largerfauna recovery than other land uses The smallest arthropodcommunitieswere collected undermaize (59 individuals) and

tomato (95 individuals) Under native forests 286 individ-uals were trapped which is mostly comparable to elephantgrass (330 individuals) and passion fruit (213 individuals)Entomobryomorpha was the dominant taxonomic groupunder apple guava (3080 individuals) and green pepper (780individuals) whereas Poduromorpha prevailed under carrot(716 individuals)

Several factors may influence the soil invertebrate com-munity particularly season microclimate soil and cropmanagement and resource availability [16 17 21] Withregard to the season indeed rainfall might contribute to amore favorable environment for fauna activity at the semiaridregion of northeast Brazil In the studied area however waterprovided by irrigation has to be taken into accountThereforenonirrigated (elephant grass apple guava and passion fruit)and irrigated (passion fruit carrot maize tomato and greenpepper) stands will show contrasting soil water contentand microclimatic conditions that may influence arthropoddensity Tillage system and soil cover are factor affecting theorganic matter and litter production in agricultural fieldsand therefore the food availability for soil fauna Thus ahigher litter production is expected under native forest appleguava and passion fruit because plant residues are left on thesoil surface the more the litter production the higher foodavailability for soil fauna

Mainly two crop protection practices are expected toaffect the soil fauna activity weed control and pesticideapplication At the sampling date weeds had been strictlyexcluded from passion fruit and tomato fields because thesecrops were in the main fruiting phase However under appleguava carrot and green pepper the presence of weeds wasnot a challenge because when sampling was performed thecrop production was out As herbivores Entomobryomorphaand Poduromorpha are enhanced by the presence of weedsThus it is highly possible that the large number of Entomo-bryomorpha under apple guava and green pepper (followedby important figures for carrot) and also the dominance ofPoduromorpha under carrotwas related to the increased foodavailability due to no restriction of weed growth

Pesticides have been applied to carrot maize tomato andgreen pepperThe low number of individuals collected undermaize and tomato may be related to the use of pesticidestogether with the scarce or even absent soil cover and strictweed control Carrot and green pepper also received pesticidetreatment however these crops were near the end of thevegetative growth period and weeds provided food availabil-ity for certain specialized arthropod groups Therefore inthese stands Entomobryomorpha and Poduromorpha founda favorable environment even after pesticide application

The arthropods extracted from all the land uses belongto 18 taxa with a minimum of 9 at carrot maize andtomato and a maximum of 16 at passion fruit and the nativeforest (Table 5) The fauna richness therefore was lower instands treated with pesticides (carrot maize tomato andgreen pepper) than in stands without pesticide application(elephant grass apple guava and passion fruit) and in thenative forestThe taxa exhibiting the greatest number of spec-imens were Entomobryomorpha Poduromorpha Formi-cidae Diptera Auchenorrhyncha Araneae Hymenoptera


Table 4 Total number of individuals collected by 5 pitfall traps during a week for the taxonomic groups studied

Taxonomic group Native forest Elephantgrass Apple guava Passion

fruit Carrot Maize Tomato Greenpepper

Acari 8 5 18 2 3 1 1Araneae 19 5 13 1 3 17Auchenorryncha 1 4 2 24 1 25 43Coleoptera 18 9 6 13 5 11 6 11Diplura 1Diptera 51 18 22 38 9 13 13 24Entomobryomorpha 67 251 3080 53 188 21 21 780Formicidae 90 14 70 29 19 4 7 36Heteroptera 1Hymenoptera 19 6 10 11 15 2Isoptera 1 3 13 1Larva Coleoptera 1 1 4Orthoptera 1 2 3 4 3Poduromorpha 2 1 2 1 716 4Psocoptera 2Sternorryncha 5 8 1 5 1 5Thysanoptera 3 4 1 32 13 2 3 51Tricoptera 1Total 286 330 3424 213 959 59 95 974

Table 5 Parameters and indices used to assess arthropod communities under native forest and the different agricultural land uses studied

Abundance plusmn std(Indsdotpitfallsdotdayminus1) CV Shannon

indexPielouindex Mean richness Total

richnessNative forest 817 plusmn 283 347 2709 0712 84 14Elephant grass 943 plusmn 356 378 1641 0444 84 13Apple guava 9263 plusmn 6442 695 0439 0115 82 14Passion fruit 609 plusmn 091 150 2983 0764 86 15Carrot 2740 plusmn 1254 458 1150 0363 6 9Maize 169 plusmn 051 302 2562 0808 44 9Tomato 271 plusmn 049 182 2749 0867 7 9Green pepper 2783 plusmn 581 209 1267 0366 8 11

and Thysanoptera accounting for approximately 95 of thecollected organisms

In general we found very strong effects of land use onthe arthropod abundance Several taxonomic groups showedhigher abundance under specific crops Entomobryomorphawere higher in plots under green pepper and apple guava(119865 = 458 119875 lt 0010) Poduromorpha were much higher inthe plots under carrot than in any other treatment (119865 = 3321119875 lt 0001) Higher amounts of Auchenorrhynchawere foundin the traps located in passion fruit tomato and green pepperplots (119865 = 1520 119875 lt 0001) Thysanoptera was higher insoils under carrot and maize (119865 = 1508 119875 lt 0001) Othertaxa like Coleoptera were ubiquitous their abundance wassimilar in all the investigated land uses but they were lessabundant than other taxa On the other hand Formicidaewere higher in the reference stand under native vegetationand in the stand under apple guava than in other cultivatedstands (119865 = 701 119875 lt 0001) Also Hymenoptera were higherin the soil under native than in soils cropped with maize ortomato (119865 = 403 119875 lt 0010)

The pitfall trap is thought to be a sampling methodmost adequate for Araneae Coleoptera Formicidae andOrthoptera whereas other soil taxa should be investigatedusing other different methods [17] The communities ofFormicidae collected were significantly lower in all thecultivated stands than in the native forest stand and this isirrespective of soil and crop management system Thereforethis taxonomic group show promise as an indicator of soilquality in the Brazilian semiarid because it exhibits the mostpronounced decrease in cultivated plots compared to nativeforest Assessment of this taxonomic group may be useful toevaluate the biological status of the cultivated stands

The abundances of soil arthropods (individualspitfallday) were lowest for maize (169 plusmn 051) and tomato (271 plusmn049) and highest for apple guava (9263 plusmn 6442) followedby green pepper (2783 plusmn 581) and passion fruit (2740 plusmn1254) as shown in Table 5 Again high pesticide applicationrates and weed control at sampling date were responsiblefor the small arthropod abundance under maize and tomatoOn the other hand the highest abundance of arthropods


under apple guava and the relatively high abundance underpassion fruit and green pepper was due to the effect of weedpopulation which dramatically increased the presence ofspecialized herbivores as before mentioned

Under native Caatinga the abundance of arthropods was817 plusmn 283 individualspitfallday intermediate in compar-ison with the various agricultural land uses As expectedthe fauna abundance under this biome was lower than inother tropical soils For example under secondary Atlanticforest the figures obtained using also pitfall traps ranged from8013 to 11137 individualspitfallday [21] depending on thesampling season rainy or dry respectively

The Shannon index suggested that diversity was highestnot only at the reference stand (native forest) but also attomato and passion fruit it was lowest at apple guavafollowed by carrot and green pepper Thus this index rankedas passion fruit gt tomato gt native forest gt maize gt elephantgrass gt green pepper gt carrot gt apple guava The Pielouindex showed the highest evenness or equality at tomato andmaize and the lowest at apple guava It ranked as tomato gtmaize gt passion fruit gt native forest gt green pepper gtcarrot gt apple guava The arthropod communities undertomato and maize exhibited a high diversity and evenness(high Shannon and Pielou indices) and this is in spite ofpesticide application and weed control Therefore such cropmanagement practices affected fauna abundance but notbiodiversity and evenness On the other hand the presence ofweeds dramatically increased the abundance of some taxa andthis lead to a lower diversity and a lower equitability underapple guava carrot and green pepper

Surprisingly agricultural intensification does not seem tocause always a decrease of arthropod diversity and evennessMoreover high taxa richness could be a consequence of a shiftin community composition towards a high number of taxabetter adapted to the conditions in these soils It should bealso taken into account that diversity indices are known tobe sensitive to various factors such as the sampling unit sizewhich limits their predictive capability [22]

The soils under different land uses widely differed ininvertebrate density whereas they differed more slightly intaxa richness Therefore we can hypothesize that individ-ual abundance and density are affected by different soilmanagement factors than taxa richness It appeared that inagricultural land uses abundance was mainly related to thepresence of weeds while richness was associated to pesticideapplication This is a result consistent with previous studies[22 23]

On the other hand the soil use intensity index (Table 5)showed no significant correlation with the studied biodiver-sity indices or with single taxa abundanceThismay be simpledue to the semiquantitative nature of the soil use intensityindex

The community composition did greatly differ among thestudied land uses which would have severe implications forsoil functionality [23] As an example several arthropodsincluding mites and termites are involved in organic matterdecomposition and nutrient cycling In addition ants andother arthropods create channels aggregates and mounds

that deeply affect the fluxes of gases and water in soil Thisphysical alteration will also modify the microhabitats forother soil organisms

The high relative abundance of Auchenorrhyncha Ento-mobryomorpha Hymenoptera Poduromorpha Formici-adae and Thysanoptera suggests that these taxa are tolerantto a wide range of soil propertiesThis would limit their use asindicators of soil conditions and thus soil quality [23]Thesetaxa however showed variations in individual abundanceamong the different management systems which may bedue to high food availability when sampling As an exampleEntomobryomorpha had a 100-fold higher abundance in thesoil under apple guava than in the soils under tomato ormaize Again Formicidae among the ubiquitous taxa appearsto be the most sensitive to changes in land use and soilmanagement

Other taxa such as Acari Araneae AuchenorrhynchaHymenoptera Isoptera Orthoptera Poduromorpha andSternorrhyncha were absent in some treatments which maysuggest a good potential as indicators of soil quality In partic-ular Acari was absent under maize and almost absent undertomato and green pepper while Poduromorpha were absentundermaize and green pepperThis would indicate that thesetaxa are very sensitive to specific practices of intensification insoil and crop management This is supported by the fact thatAcari numbers and traitsmay change due to an intensificationof soil use [24]

Overall the highly variable density of microarthropodsin this agricultural landscape seems to be dependent onseveral variables Appropriate statistical analyses are requiredto identify those variables Further research could be usefulto better assess the sensitivity and the role of single speciessince many species belonging to the same taxa and exhibitingdifferent traits can adopt different strategies in the landscapeIt is important to highlight that our study demonstrates thereare differences in invertebrate communities between landuses even at taxa levels that can be attributed to intensiveagriculturalmanagementThis leads to significant differencesthat are indicated by the presence or absence of arthropodtaxa

4 Conclusions

The abundance of arthropods under native forest in theBrazilian semiarid has been found to be much lower thanunder other native biomes such as the Atlantic forest

Under agricultural land use several variables related withsoil and crop management influence the highly variabledensity of arthropods Abundance has been shown to berelated with food availability provided by weeds whichdramatically increased the presence of specialized herbivoressuch as Entomobryomorpha and Poduromorpha Richnesswas mainly associated with pesticide application

Agricultural land use strongly decreased the abundanceof Formicidae compared to native forest which suggest thistaxonomic group responds sensitively to agricultural landuse Several other taxonomic groups showed significantlyhigher abundances under specific crops but this effect may


be due to distinct soil and crop management practices atthe sampling date However no single taxa could be used asindicator of soil use intensity

Conflict of Interests

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interestsregarding the publication of this paper

Acknowledgments

The authors thank CNPq (Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvi-mento Cientifico e Tecnologico) and FACEPE (Fundacao deAmparo a Ciencia e Tecnologia do Estado de Pernambuco)for their support through a DCR (Desenvolvimento Cien-tifico Regional) grant Also thanks are given to FAPEMAMaranhao State Brazil for funding the publication of thispaper

References

[1] V Wolters ldquoBiodiversity of soil animals and its functionrdquoEuropean Journal of Soil Biology vol 37 no 4 pp 221ndash227 2001

[2] J D Majer K E C Brennan and M L Moir ldquoInvertebratesand the restoration of a forest ecosystem 30 years of researchfollowing bauxite mining in Western Australiardquo RestorationEcology vol 15 pp 104ndash115 2007

[3] P F Hendrix RW Parmelee D A Crossley Jr D C ColemanE P Odum and P M Groffman ldquoDetritus food webs inconventional and no-tillage agroecosystemsrdquoBioscience vol 36no 6 pp 374ndash380 1986

[4] P Lavelle E Barros E Blanchart et al ldquoSOM management inthe tropics why feeding the soil macrofaunardquo Nutrient Cyclingin Agroecosystems vol 61 no 1-2 pp 53ndash61 2001

[5] J Paz-Ferreiro and S Fu ldquoBiological indices for soil qualityevaluation perspectives and limitationsrdquo LandDegradation andDevelopment 2013

[6] J Paz-Ferreiro C Trasar-Cepeda M C Leiros S Seoaneand F Gil-Sotres ldquoEffect of management and climate onbiochemical properties of grassland soils from Galicia (NWSpain)rdquo European Journal of Soil Biology vol 46 no 2 pp 136ndash143 2010

[7] A Cerda and M F Jurgensen ldquoAnt mounds as a source ofsediment on citrus orchard plantations in eastern Spain Athree-scale rainfall simulation approachrdquo Catena vol 85 no 3pp 231ndash236 2011

[8] J M Holland and C J M Reynolds ldquoThe impact of soilcultivation on arthropod (Coleoptera and Araneae) emergenceon arable landrdquo Pedobiologia vol 47 no 2 pp 181ndash191 2003

[9] L Santorufo C A M van Gestel A Rocco and G MaistoldquoSoil invertebrates as bioindicators of urban soil qualityrdquo Envi-ronmental Pollution vol 161 pp 57ndash63 2012

[10] D Cluzeau M Guernion R Chaussod et al ldquoIntegration ofbiodiversity in soil quality monitoring baselines for microbialand soil fauna parameters for different land-use typesrdquo Euro-pean Journal of Soil Biology vol 49 pp 63ndash72 2012

[11] G P Aspetti R Boccelli D Ampollini A A M Del Re and ECapri ldquoAssessment of soil-quality index based on microarthro-pods in corn cultivation inNorthern ItalyrdquoEcological Indicatorsvol 10 no 2 pp 129ndash135 2010

[12] V Parisi C Menta C Gardi C Jacomini and E MozzanicaldquoMicroarthropod communities as a tool to assess soil qualityand biodiversity a new approach in Italyrdquo Agriculture Ecosys-tems and Environment vol 105 no 1-2 pp 323ndash333 2005

[13] R S C Menezes E V S B Sampaio V Giongo and A MPerez-Marin ldquoBiogeochemical cycling in terrestrial ecosystemsof the Caatinga biomerdquo Brazilian Journal of Biology vol 72 no3 pp 643ndash653 2012

[14] T Brevault S Bikay J M Maldes and K Naudin ldquoImpact of ano-till withmulch soilmanagement strategy on soilmacrofaunacommunities in a cotton cropping systemrdquo Soil and TillageResearch vol 97 no 2 pp 140ndash149 2007

[15] J F Ponge S Gillet F Dubs et al ldquoCollembolan communitiesas bioindicators of land use intensificationrdquo Soil Biology andBiochemistry vol 35 no 6 pp 813ndash826 2003

[16] M K da Silva Moco E F da Gama-Rodrigues A C da Gama-Rodrigues R C R MacHado and V C Baligar ldquoSoil andlitter fauna of cacao agroforestry systems in Bahia BrazilrdquoAgroforestry Systems vol 76 no 1 pp 127ndash138 2009

[17] A S F De Araujo N Eisenhauer L A P L Nunes L FC Leite and S Cesarz ldquoSoil surface-active fauna in degradedand restored lands of northeast brazilrdquo Land Degradation andDevelopment 2013

[18] Soil Survey Staff Key to Soil Taxonomy USDA-NRCS Wash-ington DC USA 12th edition 2014

[19] EMBRAPA (Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation)Brazilian System of Soil Classification (in Portuguese) BrasiliaBrazil 2006

[20] M E F Correia and L C M Oliveira Soil Fauna General andMethodological Aspects Embrapa Agrobiologia SeropedicaBrazil 2000 (Portuguese)

[21] F V D C NetoM E F Correia G H A Pereira M G Pereiraand P S D S Leles ldquoSoil fauna as an indicator of soil quality inforest stands pasture and secondary forestrdquo Revista Brasileirade Ciencia do Solo vol 36 no 5 pp 1407ndash1417 2012

[22] J Nahmani and P Lavelle ldquoEffects of heavy metal pollution onsoil macrofauna in a grassland of Northern Francerdquo EuropeanJournal of Soil Biology vol 38 no 3-4 pp 297ndash300 2002

[23] N E McIntyre J Rango W F Fagan and S H Faeth ldquoGroundarthropod community structure in a heterogeneous urbanenvironmentrdquo Landscape and Urban Planning vol 52 no 4 pp257ndash274 2001

[24] J Farska K Prejzkova and J Rusek ldquoManagement intensityaffects traits of soil microarthropod community in montanespruce forestrdquo Applied Soil Ecology vol 75 pp 71ndash79 2014

Submit your manuscripts athttpwwwhindawicom

Forestry ResearchInternational Journal of

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Environmental and Public Health

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MeteorologyAdvances in

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Applied ampEnvironmentalSoil Science

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Atmospheric SciencesInternational Journal of



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International Journal of

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BiodiversityInternational Journal of


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ClimatologyJournal of


and fungal food webs in the soil Other physical processessuch as erosion and filtering can also be affected by soil fauna[1 4 7] In addition soil fauna measurements provide someadvantages compared to other biological methods tomeasuresoil quality as they rely on identifying and quantifying speciesliving in the soil rather than on nonstandardized chemicalanalyses

In particular soil arthropods have been used as indicatorsof soil quality in soils and to compare different managementsystems as they are regulated by anthropogenic impactsFrequently these studies have been done using single taxongroups including Acari Isopoda Coleoptera Araneae orCollembola [8ndash10] or integrative quality indices [11 12]

The interior region of northeastern Brazil is coveredby xeric shrubland and thorn forest locally referred to asldquoCaatingardquo unlike the Atlantic rain forest which bordersthe Atlantic see The ldquoCaatingardquo biome located between 3∘S45∘W and 17∘S 35∘W incorporates about 900000 km2 Thisnative vegetation typically consists of small thorny treesherbaceous vegetation only starts growing in the rainy seasonDue to the high demographic density (20ndash30 inhabitants perkm2) this is one of the most densely populated semiaridregions of the worldTherefore there is a pressure to cultivateas much land as possible Moreover agricultural land useinvolves a large number of small properties with contrastingmanagement systems including irrigated high input systemsand rainfed low input systems [13]

Intensive agricultural systems can produce negativeimpacts on soils including a loss of soil quality and bio-diversity These aspects should be evaluated as soil faunais sensitive to several soil management practices includingfertilizer use and tillage [14] or land use changes [15 16] Soilfauna is also sensitive to land degradation [17]

In spite of the essential role of arthropods in soil func-tioning there is not enough knowledge about how they areaffected by extensive andor intensive agricultural systemsIn particular the arthropod community along intensificationgradients has not been studied at the Brazilian CaatingaThus in this work we used soil arthropods as a mean toevaluate the effects of agricultural intensification on soilquality

2 Material and Methods

21 Study Site Climate Soil Type and Land Use The studyarea was located in Fazenda Nossa Senhora do RosarioPesqueira municipality (Pernambuco Brazil) at 8∘3410158401710158401015840Sand 37∘110158402010158401015840W The average altitude is 610m The climate inthe region is hot semiarid with dry austral summers andmore rainy winters (BShw according to Koppen) Averageannual temperature is 27∘C and average annual rainfall is600mm Usually the rainy season starts in December orJanuary

Fazenda Nossa Senhora do Rosario is located on analluvial valley (Figure 1) The soils of the studied fields wereentisols and they were classified as Fluvent and Orthentat the suborder level following the Soil Survey Staff [18]Fluvent and Orthent are equivalent to ldquoNeossoo fluvicordquo and

36∘52

9984000998400998400W 36

∘51

99840020

998400998400W36∘51

99840040

998400998400W

NW E

S

(1)

(2)(3)

(4)

(5)(6)

(8)(7)

DEM (m)604ndash617617ndash630630ndash643

8∘23

99840040

998400998400S

8∘24

9984000998400998400S

643ndash656656ndash669

Figure 1 Localization of the studied stands (scale = meters)

ldquoNeossolo Regolıticordquo respectively in the Brazilian Soil Clas-sification System [19] General properties of these two soiltypes are listed in Tables 1 and 2 Both Fluvent and Orthentwere sandy loam textured Soil pH at the surface horizon(0ndash20 cm) was slightly acid thus in the desired range foragricultural soils Cation exchange capacity (CEC) was lowas expected for tropical soils with values of 82 Cmol

+kgminus1

and 66 Cmol+kgminus1 for Fluvent and Orthent respectively

Organic matter content however was much higher forOrthent than for Fluvent

In this area production is carried out by small scalefarmers owning plots along the river valley Some fieldsare used as forage for cattle while most fields are subjectto cultivation The invertebrate community was evaluatedin 8 plots located within a thorn forest (which was takenas a reference) and in 7 agricultural fields with differentcultivation systems and vegetation cover Details about soiltype land use and soil and crop management of the sitesstudied are summarized in Table 3 A soil use intensity indexfor each of the studied stands was elaborated based on localexpert knowledge and is also listed in Table 3

The native forest (Caatinga) is a xeric or even hyperxericvegetation with thorny tress as dominant species In winterperiods the small thorny trees lose their leaves and theunderstory merely consists of cacti thick-stemmed plantsand arid-adapted grasses limiting the litter available for soilbiota During the brief rainy season however many annualplants grow flower and produce much more abundant litterdebris

The agricultural fields studied were cropped with dif-ferent plant species including elephant grass (Pennisetumpurpureum Schumach) apple guava (Psidium guajava L)passion fruit (Passiflora edulis Sims) carrot (Daucus carotaL) maize (Zea mays Mill) tomato (Solanum lycopersicumMill) and green pepper (Capsicum annuum L)

22 Sampling and Analysis of Active Fauna Soil fauna wassampled using the pitfall trap method during a seven-day





Depth(cm)


0ndash20 62 100 014 025 17 28 331 820 024 042

Depth(cm)











Fluvico



mowmdash No No 1


FluvicoApple guava

(Psidium guajava)


coveredYes No No 1



(Passiflora edulis)


No Drip No 2


RegolıticoCarrot

(Daucus carota)






No Aspersion Yes 35


Fluvico

Tomato(Solanum

lycopersicum)




Fluvico















119880 =

119867

log 2119878 (2)





































4 Conclusions








Acknowledgments


References





























Journal of












Volume 2014

Advances in









Geophysics


















Depth(cm)


0ndash20 62 100 014 025 17 28 331 820 024 042

Depth(cm)











Fluvico



mowmdash No No 1


FluvicoApple guava

(Psidium guajava)


coveredYes No No 1



(Passiflora edulis)


No Drip No 2


RegolıticoCarrot

(Daucus carota)






No Aspersion Yes 35


Fluvico

Tomato(Solanum

lycopersicum)




Fluvico















119880 =

119867

log 2119878 (2)





































4 Conclusions








Acknowledgments


References





























Journal of












Volume 2014

Advances in









Geophysics





















119880 =

119867

log 2119878 (2)





































4 Conclusions








Acknowledgments


References





























Journal of












Volume 2014

Advances in









Geophysics







































4 Conclusions








Acknowledgments


References





























Journal of












Volume 2014

Advances in









Geophysics


























4 Conclusions








Acknowledgments


References





























Journal of












Volume 2014

Advances in









Geophysics


















Acknowledgments


References





























Journal of












Volume 2014

Advances in









Geophysics


















Journal of












Volume 2014

Advances in









Geophysics














Research Article Land Use Intensification Effects in Soil ...Research Article Land Use Intensification Effects in Soil Arthropod Community of an Entisol in Pernambuco State, Brazil

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