Community of edaphic macrofauna in agroecological and conventional orchards on family farms in southern RS

Abstract

There are few studies to evaluate the community of edaphic fauna in agroecological crops,
especially in orchards. Therefore, the objective of this work was to evaluate the diversity, richness
and abundance of edaphic macrofauna in agroecological, conventional orchards and
native vegetation on a family farm in the south of RS. The study was carried out in the region of
Colônia Maciel, Pelotas, RS. We used three areas: agroecological orchards (PA), conventional
orchards (PC) and native vegetation (VN). Sampling of soil fauna was performed using Tretzel
traps. We submitted the results to the Diversity, Equability, Shannon-Wiener and Simpson indices.
The highest abundance occurred in the area of PA, the highest richness occurred in the
area of VN and the Shannon-Wiener index was higher in the area of PC. The agroecological
system benefits the edaphic macrofauna communities, increasing their abundance and maintaining
their richness.