Live Subsoils: Tropical Regolith and Biota Interactions

Schaefer, Carlos Ernesto Gonçalves Reynaud; Oliveira, Fábio Soares de

doi:10.1007/978-3-031-00317-2_15

Cited by 6 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…Therefore, the physical fertility of the Ferralsols appears to be largely related to the activity of termites and ants activity which has taken place over the last hundreds of thousands of years, if not older because the deep tropical weathering occurred mainly during the Tertiary, and which has seen variations in climatic conditions and subsequently in soil fauna and vegetation 2 , 59 – 61 . Today it is difficult to assess the consequences of intensive agriculture on such highly microaggregated Ferralsols because this is a recent change in Brazil.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-term activity of social insects responsible for the physical fertility of soils in the tropics

Bruand,

Reatto,

Brossard

et al. 2023

Sci Rep

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Ferralsols correspond to the red and yellow soils that are common in the tropics. They are deeply weathered but physical fertility is high because they exhibit a strong microgranular structure whose origin is still actively debated. In the present study, we looked for evidence of the biological origin of the structure resulting from soil fauna activity. We present results recorded with Brazilian Ferralsols developed under native vegetation. It was found that the Ferralsols studied exhibit morphological features related to the activity of social insects. We showed the presence of potassium 2:1 clays originating from the saprolite in the microaggregates of all the Ferralsols studied. These 2:1 clays were earlier discussed as markers of long-term termite activity. This highlights the threat that weighs on the physical fertility of these soils, and more broadly on the water cycle in the tropical regions concerned, if intensive agriculture reduces the soil fauna biodiversity, as indicated by several studies.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%