Species diversity of Enchytraeidae (Oligochaeta) in pastures, regenerating secondary forests, and old-growth forests in the southern Mata Atlântica (Brazil)
Keywords:
Pot worms, abundance, Parana, forest regeneration, soil faunaAbstract
In the framework of the German-Brazilian project SOLOBIOMA (‘Soil biota and biogeochemistry in the Southern Atlantic rainforests of Brazil’), soil invertebrates were sampled in different regeneration stages of forest: pastures, young, medium and advanced secondary forests as well as old-growth forests. Thirty-nine study sites were located in two private nature reserves situated in neighbouring regions of the southern Atlantic Forest (Mata Atlântica) in Paraná, Brazil. All sites were characterized in terms of climate, history of use (age), vegetation, and soil properties. Here we report on the species diversity of pot worms (Oligochaeta: Enchytraeidae) in these sites, sampled with ISO standard methods. At each site ten soil cores of 5.7 cm diameter were taken once between 2003 and 2008, wet extracted and all pot worms identified alive soon after sampling. Most of the 61 species found in this study were new to science. The enchytraeid fauna of the region is dominated by species of the genera Achaeta, Guaranidrilus and Hemienchytraeus. To date, six species of the genus Achaeta, three species of the new genus Xetadrilus and four species of the species-rich genus Guaranidrilus were described by some of the authors. The terrestrial enchytraeid fauna of Paraná is composed partly of (probably) endemic species (e.g. Achaeta paranensis), partly of species with a known wider distribution within South America (e.g. Hemienchytraeus patricii). Species-poor genera are Fridericia, Enchytraeusand Marionina. On average, enchytraeid abundance was low (i.e. less than 5000 ind m-2). Highest abundance was found in old-growth forests. Species assemblages respond to soil type and vegetation type, and some preferences at the species or genus level could be identified. Due to their small size, low abundance and resulting low biomass enchytraeid worms seem to have little ecological importance in terms of energy flux and nutrient turnover, especially when compared with earthworms. However, due to their species richness they may be useful to indicate the biological status of a site in terms of biological soil quality or perturbation.
Downloads
References
Bihn, J. H., M. Verhaagh, M. Brändle. & R. Brandl (2008): Do secondary forests act as refuges for old growth forest animals? Recovery of ant diversity in the Atlantic forest of Brazil. – Biological Conservation 141: 733–743.
Bittencourt, E. (1974): Algumas Enchytraeidae (Oligochaeta) de Sâo Paulo. – Revista Brasileira de Biologia 34: 369–378.
Černosvitov, L. (1937): Notes sur les Oligochaeta (Naididées et Enchytraeidées) de l’Argentine. – Anales del Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales, Buenos Aires 39: 135–157.
Christoffersen, M. L. (1979): Achaeta neotropica and A. iridescens sp. n. (Oligochaeta, Enchytraeidae) from Serra do Mar, Sâo Paulo, Brazil. – Zoologica Scripta 8: 153 158.
Collado, R. & R. M. Schmelz (2000): Pedonais crassifaucis n.gen., n.sp. (Naididae) and Bothrioneurum righii n.sp. (Tubificidae), two new tropical soil-dwelling species of “aquatic” oligochaetes (Clitellata, Annelida) from Central Amazonia. – Amazoniana 16: 223–235.
Didden, W. A. M. (1993): Ecology of terrestrial Enchytraeidae. – Pedobiologia 37: 2–29.
Engelmann, H.-D. (1978): Zur Dominanzklassifizierung von Bodenarthropoden. – Pedobiologia 18: 378–380.
FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation) (1998): World reference base for soil resources. – FAO/ISSS/ISRIC, Rome. World Soil Resources Reports 84.
Ferretti, A. R. & de R. M. Britez (2006): Ecological restoration, carbon sequestration and biodiversity conservation: The experience of the Society for Wildlife Research and Environmental Education (SPVS) in the Atlantic Rain Forest of Southern Brazil. – Journal for Nature Conservation 14: 249–259.
Höfer, H., M. Verhaagh & R. Fabry (2007): SOLOBIOMA –
Bodenbiota und Biogeochemie in Küstenregenwäldern Südbrasiliens. – Zeitschrift für Umweltchemie und Ökotoxikologie 19: 128–131.
Höfer H., J. H. Bihn, C. Borges, R. M. Britez, R. Brandl, R. Fabry, J. Jetzkowitz, H. P. Kahle, R. Marques, R. Ottermanns, D. Paulsch, J. Römbke, M. Ross-Nickoll & M. Verhaagh (2011): InBioVeritas – Valuating nature in the southern Mata Atlântica of Brazil. – Procedia Environmental Sciences 9: 64–71.
Hopp, P. W., R. Ottermanns, E. Caron, E. Meyer & M. Ross-Nickoll, M. (2010): Recovery of litter inhabiting beetle assemblages during forest regeneration in the Atlantic forest of Southern Brazil. – Insect Conservation and Diversity 3:103–113.
IPARDES (2001): Zoneamento da Apa de Guaraqueçaba. – Curitiba, Brasil: Instituto Paranaense de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social. 150p.
ISO (International Standard Organization) (2006): Soil quality - Sampling of soil invertebrates - Part 3: Sampling and soil extraction of enchytraeids (ISO 23611-3). – Geneve, Switzerland.
Kleiber, C. & A. Zeileis (2008): Applied Econometrics with R. – Springer, New York, NY, USA.
Liebsch, D., R. Goldenberg & M. C. Mendes Marques (2007): Florística e estructura de comunidades vegetais em uma cronosqüência de Floresta Atlântica no Estado do Paraná, Brasil. – Acta Botanica Brasilica 21: 983–992.
Myers, N., R. A: Mittermeier, C. G. Mittermeier, G. A. B. da Fonseca & J. Kent (2000): Biodiversity hotspots for conservation priorities. – Nature 403: 853–858.
Ottermanns R., P. W. Hopp, G. P. dos Santos, S. Meyer & M. Ross-Nickoll (2011): Causal relationship between leaf litter beetle communities and regeneration patterns of vegetation in the Atlantic rainforest of Southern Brazil (Mata Atlântica). – Ecological Complexity 8: 299–309.
Raub, F., H. Höfer, L. Scheuermann & R. Brandl (2014): The conservation value of secondary forests in the southern Brazilian Mata Atlântica from a spider perspective. –The Journal of Arachnology 42: 52–73.
R Core Team (2014): R: A language and environment for statistical computing. – R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria.
Roderjan, C. V. & Y. Kunyoshi (1988): Macrozoneamento florístico da Área de Proteção Ambiental - APA – Guaraqueçaba. – Série Técnica FUPEF: 1v. 5: 53.
Römbke, J. (2007): Enchytraeidae of tropical soils: State of the art – with special emphasis on Latin America. – Folia Facultatis Scientiarum Naturalium Universitatis Masarykianae Brunensis, Biologia 110: 157–179.
Römbke, J. & M. Meller (1999): Applied research on Enchytraeidae in Central Amazonia: project approach, methodology and first results. – In: Newsletter on Enchytraeidae; Schmelz, R. M. & K. Sühlo (eds) 6: 69–75.
Römbke, J., R. Collado & R. M. Schmelz (2007): Abundance, distribution and indicator potential of enchytraeid (Enchytraeidae, Clitellata) in secondary forests and pastures of the Mata Atlântica (Paraná, Brazil). – Acta Hydrobiologica Sinica 31 Suppl.: 139–150.
Römbke, J., P. Schmidt & H. Höfer (2009): The earthworm fauna of forests and anthropogenic habitats in the coastal region of Paraná (southern Mata Atlântica), an example of sincere biodiversity reduction. – Pesquisa Agropecuaria Brasileira 44: 1040–1049.
Schmelz, R. M. & R. Collado (2005): Achaeta becki sp. nov. (Oligochaeta: Enchytraeidae) from Amazonian forest soils. – Zootaxa 1084: 49–57.
Schmelz, R. M., R. Collado & J. Römbke (2008): Mata Atlântica enchytraeids (Paraná, Brazil): The genus Achaeta (Oligochaeta, Enchytraeidae). – Zootaxa 1809: 1–35.
Schmelz, R. M., R. Collado & J. Römbke (2009): Enchytraeid studies in the Southern Mata Atlântica (Brazil): mutual benefits for ecology and taxonomy. – Pesquisa Agropecuaria Brasileira 44: 861–867.
Schmelz, R. M., R. Collado & J. Römbke (2011): Mata Atlântica enchytraeids (Enchytraeidae, Oligochaeta): A new genus, Xetadrilus gen. nov., with three new species, and four new species of Guaranidrilus Černosvitov. – Zootaxa 2838: 1–29.
Schmelz, R. M., C. Niva, J. Römbke & R. Collado (2013): Diversity of terrestrial Enchytraeidae (Oligochaeta) in South America: current knowledge and their potential for future research. – Applied Soil Ecology 69: 13–20.
Schmelz, R. M. & J. Römbke (2005): Three new species of Hemienchytraeus (Enchytraeidae, Oligochaeta) from Amazonian forest soil. – Journal of Natural History: 39: 2967–2986.
Schmidt, P., K. Dickow, A. A. Rocha, R. Marques, L. Scheuermann, J. Römbke & H. Höfer (2008): Soil macrofauna and decomposition rates in southern Mata Atlântica rainforests. – Ecotropica 14: 89–100.
Schröder, P. (2000): Die Klimate der Welt: aktuelle Daten und Erläuterungen. – Stuttgart, Deutschland: Thieme. 159 p.
Stephenson, J. (1930): On some African Oligochaeta. – Archivio Zoologico Italiano 14: 485–510.
Strahler, A. H. & Strahler, A. N. (2005): Physische Geographie. –
Stuttgart, Deutschland: UTB (Eugen Ulmer). 686 p.
Ter Braak, C. J. F. & P. Šmilauer (2012): Canoco reference manual and user’s guide: software for ordination, version 5.0. – Microcomputer Power, Ithaca, USA, 496 pp.
Venables, W. N. & B. D. Ripley (2002): Modern Applied Statistics with S. – Springer, New York, NY, USA.
Xie, Z. C., Y. L. Liang & H. Z. Wang (1999): Taxonomical studies on Fridericia (Enchytraeidae, Oligochaeta) along the Changjiang (Yangtze) basin. – Acta Hydrobiologica Sinica, 23 Suppl.: 158–163.
Zeileis, A. & T. Hothorn (2002): Diagnostic checking in regression relationships. – R News 2: 7–10.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
LicenseAll articles on www.soil-organisms.org may be read, copied, distributed, and (in limited quantity) printed for non-commercial, private, scientific purposes.
