Changes in soil mesofauna structure due to different land use systems in south Minas Gerais, Brazil

Essential to the provision of important ecosystems services, i.e., food production, soil is suffering great pressure. The degradation of natural areas in order to turn them into croplands has been causing severe effects to the soil quality, including the maintenance of their biodiversity. Soil physical disruption reduce the soil biodiversity and, consequently, may cause negative effects to the supporting services, i.e., organic matter degradation and nutrient cycling, which will directly or indirectly impact agroecosystems. In this study, the influence of three different types of land uses (native forest (NF), conventional agriculture (CA), and organic agriculture (OA)) to the soil mesofauna (emphasizing collembolan and mites) were assessed under real scenarios in the southeast part of Brazil. Both conventional and organic fields were of strawberries, and the greatest difference in their processes was the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, performed at CA. Soil fauna organisms were collected and identified to main groups, except the collembolan species which were further separated into four main groups/family. Results showed that not only the physical changes due to soil tillage caused negative effects to soil fauna. In the field where the use of agricultural products was allowed, organisms were much more severely affected. Hence, the conversion of natural forested areas to agricultural lands may harm soil fauna communities through biodiversity loss. This study not only adds significant information to the knowledge regarding the relation between biodiversity loss and agricultural practices worldwide, but it also helps to improve Brazilian knowledge of the edaphic fauna in agroecosystems.