Soil Macrofauna Field Manual

Technical level

by

Nuria Ruiz and Patrick Lavelle
Laboratoire d’Ecologie des Sols Tropicaux
Institut de la Recherche pour le D�veloppement
Bondy, France

and

Juan Jim�nez
FAO Consultant

Download full pdf 2,6 Mb

Institut de la Recherche pour le D�veloppement (IRD)
Bondy, France

FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS (FAO)
Rome, 2008

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Table of Contents

Part 1��[169 Kb]

Contents
Acknowledgements
Preface
List of Acronyms

Part 2�� [319 Kb]

1. Introduction to soil ecology

����Land management: food and agriculture


Factors in soil formation and functioning and their effects at different levels
Soil ecosystem

2. Soil life and biodiversity

����Functional classification of soil macrofauna
����Exercise 1: is the soil a living thing?
����Exercise 2: soil life and biodiversity

Part 3��[220 Kb]

3. Soil health

����Exercise 3: The health of a soil
����Exercise 4: the soil food-web



4. Introduction to soil macrofauna

����Physical role of soil macrofauna


Macromixing
Micromixing
Gallery construction
Litter fragmentation
Aggregate formation

����Direct and indirect chemical effects of soil macrofauna
����Biological effects of soil macrofauna

Part 4�� [161 Kb]

5. Effect of land-use and management practices on soil macrofauna

����Importance of management practices and trends in soil macrofauna composition
����Management practices with positive impacts on soil macrofauna


Examples of positive impacts

����Management practices with negative impacts on soil macrofauna


Examples of mismanagement

Part 5��[612 Mb]

6. Structure and ecology of soil macrofauna communities

����Key indicator groups and their ecology


Earthworms

����Exercise 5: Earthworms in actions


Termites
Ants
Myriapoda
Fly larvae
Beetles

����Exercise 6: Estimating soil macrofauna abundance and activities in soil

Part 6�� [823 Kb]

����Exercise 7: The effect of soil fauna on soil structure (so affecting porosity and water infiltration)
����Biogenic structures created by soil macroinvertebrates


Earthworm casts
Earthworm burrows
Termite mounds
Ant heaps
Roots

����Exercise 8: Identification of biogenic structures and calculation of soil moved by soil macrofauna
����Exercise 9: The card game
����Relationships between key indicator groups and other soil organisms

Part 7�� [78 Kb]

7. Monitoring impacts of land management: a problem-solving perspective

Part 8�� [779 Kb]

References
Key on soil macrofauna
Glossary