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Soil fauna abundance and diversity in a secondary semi-evergreen forest in Guadeloupe (Lesser Antilles): influence of soil type and dominant tree species

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Abstract

The importance of secondary tropical forests regarding the maintenance of soil fauna abundance and diversity is poorly known. The aims of this study were (1) to describe soil fauna abundance and diversity and (2) to assess the determinants of soil fauna abundance and diversity in two stands of a tropical semi-evergreen secondary forest. Soil macrofauna and microarthropod abundance and soil macrofauna diversity were described at two sites developed on different soils and with different site histories: (1) a natural secondary stand (natural forest) under two dominant tree species, Pisonia subcordata and Bursera simaruba, and (2) a planted secondary forest (planted forest) under three tree species, B. simaruba, Swietenia macrophylla, and Tabebuia heterophylla. The effects of both soil and main tree species’ litter quality were assessed to explain soil fauna abundance and diversity. The abundance of soil macrofauna was significantly higher in the soil under the planted forest, and soil fauna communities were contrasted between the two sites. In the planted forest, a soil-dwelling macrofauna community developed (mainly consisting of the anecic earthworm Polypheretima elongata). In the natural forest, soil macrofauna and microarthropod communities were located at the soil surface. The effect of plant litter quality varied according to each dominant tree species and was superimposed to soil effect. The lowest macrofauna abundance was associated with B. simaruba in the natural forest. T. heterophylla supported a much greater macrofauna community than the two other tree species studied at the same soil, and it appears likely that this is due to the palatability of its leaves compared with the other trees (low lignin, tannins, soluble phenols).

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Acknowledgments

Thanks are due to Professor Jean-Paul Mauriès (Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris) for identifying the millipedes at the species level. We thank Serge, Rose, Kenny and Karen Loranger, Patrick Merciris, Alain Dufrénot, Maguy Dulormne, Vanessa Hequet, Rachel Morton, and Emile Timodent for their valuable help in the field and in the laboratory. We thank the “Office National des Forêts” (ONF) for free access to the plantation forest (Pouzzole domain). Thanks are also due to Dr. Jean-Pierre Rossi (INRA Bordeaux-Aquitaine) and Dr. Sébastien Barot (IRD Bondy) for their advices on statistical analyses.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. UMR 137 BIOSOL, Université Pierre et Marie Curie-Paris 6/IRD, Laboratoire d’Ecologie des Sols Tropicaux, 32 Avenue Henri Varagnat, 93143, Bondy Cedex, France

    Gladys Loranger-Merciris, France Bernhard-Reversat & Patrick Lavelle

  2. Université des Antilles et de la Guyane, Faculté des Sciences Exactes et Naturelles, DYNECAR EA 926, Laboratoire de Biologie et de Physiologie Végétales, BP 592, 97159, Pointe à Pitre Cedex, Guadeloupe, France

    Gladys Loranger-Merciris & Daniel Imbert

  3. Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, CNRS UMR 5176, 4 Avenue du Petit Château, 91800, Brunoy, France

    Jean-François Ponge

Authors
  1. Gladys Loranger-Merciris
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  2. Daniel Imbert
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  3. France Bernhard-Reversat
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  4. Jean-François Ponge
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  5. Patrick Lavelle
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gladys Loranger-Merciris.

Appendix

Appendix

Soil macrofauna species and morphospecies collected in a natural forest and in a planted forest in North Grande-Terre (Guadeloupe)

  1. 1.

    Diplopoda: 7 species (Orthomorpha coarctata Saussure; Anadenobolus monilicornis von Porat; Trigoniulus corallinus Gervais; Spirostrophus naresi Pocock; Epinannolene pittieri guadeloupensis Mauriès; Pseudospirobolellus avernus Butler; Siphonophora filiformis Mauriès)

  2. 2.

    Chilopoda: 3 morphospecies

  3. 3.

    Coleoptera: 4 species (Phyllophaga patrueloides Paulian, Phyllophaga pleei Blanchard, Anomala insularis Castelnau, Aspisoma ignita Linnaeus) and 13 morphospecies

  4. 4.

    Formicidae: 4 species (Acromyrmex octospinosus Reich, Ectatomma ruidum Roger, Odontomachus chelifer Latreille, Azteca delpini antillana Forel) and 9 morphospecies

  5. 5.

    Isoptera: 1 species (Nasutitermes costalis Holmgren) and 2 morphospecies

  6. 6.

    Earthworms: 2 species (P. elongata Perrier; A. rodericensis Grube) and 1 morphospecies (Dichogaster sp.)

  7. 7.

    Insect larvae: 17 morphospecies

  8. 8.

    Isopoda: 3 morphospecies

  9. 9.

    Dermaptera: 1 morphospecies

  10. 10.

    Blattodea: 1 species (Hemiblabera granulata Saussure and Zehntner) and 2 morphospecies

  11. 11.

    Araneidae: 13 morphospecies

  12. 12.

    Heteroptera: 2 morphospecies

  13. 13.

    Gasteropoda: 1 morphospecies

  14. 14.

    Turbellaria: 1 morphospecies

  15. 15.

    Homoptera: 1 morphospecies

  16. 16.

    Orthoptera: 2 morphospecies

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Loranger-Merciris, G., Imbert, D., Bernhard-Reversat, F. et al. Soil fauna abundance and diversity in a secondary semi-evergreen forest in Guadeloupe (Lesser Antilles): influence of soil type and dominant tree species. Biol Fertil Soils 44, 269–276 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-007-0199-5

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