Soil animals and soil fertility: A critical component of woodland productivity
1993
Dangerfield, M. J.
The activities of soil animals have both direct and indirect effects on soil fertility parameters and can be viewed as a potential regulator of soil biological processes. This paper summarises studies on the composition and basic ecology of soil animals in a miombo woodland habitat in Zimbabwe focusing on millipedes and the humus feeding termite Cubitermes sankurensis (Wassmann). The soil animal community was dominated by termites and litter dwelling arthropods, notably millipedes, with significant spatial variability in abundance and biomass. The consumption of leaf litter by millipedes could amount to 18-28% of annual litterfall and production of faecal material amount to 64 g m-2 yr1 equivalent to 12% of the litter standing crop. The abundance of C. sankurensis reached 1 200 individuals m-2 whose activities modified soil chemical properties within mounds. The implications of these results and the combined effects of soil fauna activities for nutrient cycling and productivity within savanna woodlands are discussed.
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