Morphospecies diversity of soil invertebrates in Cultivated and Uncultivated fields

Abstract

The soil environment is teeming with living organisms full of biological life and is one of the most abundant and diverse ecosystems on earth. However, due to unsustainable agriculture practices, the fertile topsoil is often lost; the soil becomes useless for agriculture. Therefore, we cannot lose sight of the fundamental role of the soil biological entities in maintaining the sustainability of the soil, and the role of organism's biodiversity in the soil to counter against various stress. Therefore, the main objective of this work is detecting diversity and density of soil invertebrates between a cultivated field (Ladang 2) and uncultivated field (CEFS), Results showed that the highest abundance of invertebrates was recorded at CEFS 834 with 3.7 m2 density and the lowest was in Ladang 2: 225 with 1.2 m2 density, belonging to 35 different morphospecies from 4 Phylum, 4 subphyla, 6 class, 2 subclass, and 19 orders. A total of 15 morphospecies were collected in the cultivated field Ladang 2, while 25 morphospecies were collected in the uncultivated filed CEFS. Out of 25 morphospecies found in this area, 10 were exclusive to this environment. Annelida, Amphipoda, Isopoda, Collembola, and Hymenoptera were the dominant taxa in CEFS, comprising: 8.15%, 10.55%, 17.98%, 14.14%, and 26.97% respectively. But Acarina, Coleoptera, and Insect larva 39.68%, 5.95%, and 3.97% respectively were the dominant taxa in Ladang 2. The diversity was highest in the CEFS (H = 2.29) and lowest in the Ladang2 field (H = 1.74). Unfortunately, many aspects of the soil invertebrates have not been documented in Malaysia. For example, why they become dominant in a certain location and what is the impact on that particular ecosystem. This study showed that it is essential to maintain natural habitat because agricultural practices have a major influence on soil invertebrate diversity and hopefully through this study able to suggest sound agriculture management to safeguard the soil ecosystems. Due to the limited information about soil invertebrates in Malaysia and the limited scope of this study, it is premature to make any conclusion and therefore warrant further studies.

Ecosystem Function of Soil Invertebrates and Relationships of Soil Properties From Different Agriculture Field in University Campus and Private Farm in Peninsular Malaysia

“…The soil macrofauna group was the most dominant in all locations, thereby comprising 53.93%-80.44% of the total invertebrates, in which Hymenoptera accounted for approximately 44.21%. Hymenoptera, which primarily comprises ants, refers to highly mobile organisms mainly living on top of the soil surface to scavenge foods and is commonly reported as soil fauna (Mateos et al, 2011;Manhães et al, 2013;Maqtan et al, 2018). In organic farms wherein the small vegetation dominates with light coil covers, the macrofauna group accounted for only 53.93%, with mesofauna being the highest at 43.22% (Menta, 2012;Zagatto et al, 2019).…”

Perbedaan Keanekaragaman dan Kelimpahan Araknida Antar Zonasi Gua di Kawasan Karst Tasikmalaya

“…Identifikasi dilakukan dengan pendekatan morfospesies berdasarkan hingga ke tingkatan takson yang memungkinkan (Derraik et al, 2010;Maqtan et al, 2018). Pengamatan karakter morfologi dilakukan di bawah mikroskop stereo.…”