Abstract

The conversion of natural lands to agricultural uses is a significant threat to soil biodiversity. Within agriculture, monoculture based systems are the most common which often result in low biodiversity because they impact the abundance, diversity, and composition of soil macrofauna (SMF). The objective of this paper was to analyze SMF abundance and diversity across different agroforestry practices (AFP) in the drylands of southern Ethiopia. The soil monolith and soil samples were collected from homegarden, cropland, woodlot, and trees on soil and water conservation based AFP using the standard Tropical Soil Biology and Fertility Institute manual, and the identification was done based on morphological characteristics and standard identification keys. The abundance, occurrence, and community composition of SMF were significantly different across the different AFPs (P < 0.05). In this study, 378 SMF belonging to 13 families, including unnamed were identified. The soil ecosystem of AFP was dominated by earthworms (relative abundance = 0.43), followed by termites (relative abundance = 0.12). The homegarden AFP type had a significantly higher number of SMF occurrence index of 46.03 (174), followed by woodlot, 26.72 (101) practices, and the lowest was recorded under cropland, 12.70 (48). The abundance, diversity, richness, and similarity of SMF were significantly related to soil total nitrogen and organic carbon. Phosphorus and pH were significantly related to the abundance and richness of SMF. The homegarden and woodlot AFP types were suitable for SMF biodiversity conservation.

中文翻译：

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埃塞俄比亚南部旱地不同农林业实践下大型土壤动物的多样性和丰富度

摘要

将自然土地转变为农业用途对土壤生物多样性构成重大威胁。在农业中，基于单一栽培的系统是最常见的，通常会导致生物多样性低下，因为它们会影响大型土壤动物（SMF）的丰度、多样性和组成。本文的目的是分析埃塞俄比亚南部旱地不同农林业实践 (AFP) 的 SMF 丰度和多样性。采用标准热带土​​壤生物学与肥力研究所手册，从家庭花园、农田、林地和基于AFP的水土保持树木采集土壤块和土壤样品，并根据形态特征和标准识别键进行识别。不同AFPs中SMF的丰度、发生率和群落组成存在显着差异（P  < 0.05）。在这项研究中，鉴定出属于 13 个科（包括未命名的科）的 378 个 SMF。AFP土壤生态系统以蚯蚓为主（相对丰度=0.43），其次为白蚁（相对丰度=0.12）。家庭花园 AFP 类型的 SMF 发生指数显着较高，为 46.03 (174)，其次是林地，为 26.72 (101) 实践，农田下记录的 SMF 发生指数最低，为 12.70 (48)。SMF的丰度、多样性、丰富度和相似性与土壤全氮和有机碳显着相关。磷和pH与SMF的丰度和丰富度显着相关。家庭花园和林地 AFP 类型适合 SMF 生物多样性保护。