Soil Macrofauna Field Manual

Technical level

by

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

and

Juan Jiménez
FAO Consultant

Download full pdf 2,6 Mb

Institut de la Recherche pour le Développement (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