Edaphic mesofauna groups in farms of six municipalities of Norte de Santander

ABSTRACT

The objective of the research was to identify the groups of soil mesofauna in farms of six municipalities of Norte de Santander before planting polyculture plots. A non-experimental qualitative and quantitative study was carried out where the soils of 15 farms in each municipality were sampled to identify the taxonomic groups of the edaphic mesofauna. The Berlese-Tyllgren funnel extraction method was used to separate and quantify individuals by families and orders. The soil mesofauna in the six study municipalities included members of between two and six classes corresponding to Arachnida, Diplura, Entognatha, Insecta, Malacostraca and Symphyla, with a greater number of families for Arachnida in all municipalities. In general, the soils of the farms of these municipalities are not considered very disturbed given the number of orders and families present with different functions in the edaphic trophic chain.

KEYWORDS:

• Soil
• mesobiota
• families
• orders

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the Governorate of Norte de Santander, which financed the ‘Ecosembrando’ project, for the opportunity to work on it.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Leónides Castellanos González

Leónides Castellanos González, PhD, is an agronomic engineer with the Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias, Programa de Ingeniería Agronómica, Universidad de Pamplona. Km1 Vía Bucaramanga Pamplona. Norte de Santander, Colombia. [email protected]. http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9285-4879

Alex Baldovino Sanjuán

Alex Baldovino Sanjuán, MSc, is an agronomic engineer with the Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias, Programa de Ingeniería Agronómica, Universidad de Pamplona, Colombia.

Humberto Giraldo Vanegas

Humberto Giraldo Vanegas, PhD, is an agronomic engineer with the Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias, Programa de Ingeniería Agronómica, Universidad de Pamplona.