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DOI:
10.4314/ijbcs.v6i3.7Article Details
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Diversity of mesofauna and macrofauna in protected and disturbed soils of Ngel Nyaki forest, Nigeria
Abstract
High biodiversity of the soil fauna can be an indicator of soil fertility and its ability to sustain complex food chain, but fauna diversity alone is rarely used as a measure of these attributes. In this study we investigated the mesofauna and macrofauna diversity in protected and disturbed soil habitats as a measure of the soil ability to sustain high biodiversity, using the Shannon-Weiner’s index (H). It was observed that H = 1.4049 < 1.6494, maximum diversity (Hmax) = 3.1781 < 3.6889, species evenness (H/Hmax) = 0.4421 < 0.4771, species richness (S) = 24 < 40 and equivalently common species (eH) = 4.0751 < 5.2039 were consistently lower in the disturbed soil compared to protected soil site. The distribution of fauna species was significantly different between the sites (Kolmogorov-Smirnov: Dmax = 0.233, Dcrit = 0.0282, P < 0.05). 17 fauna species identified in the protected soil were absent in disturbed soil habitat. These species could be used as indicator species in determining soil habitats that have been depleted by human activities in ecological areas with similar characteristics. These results demonstrate the need for proper soil management practices to restore biodiversity loss in disturbed soils.
Keywords: Fauna, species, biodiversity, community, abundance
