Abstract
Aims
The Cerrado, a South American savanna, is considered a priority for conservation. In this case study, we assessed soil feeding activity as a way to improve understanding of the ecosystem functioning, in order to support and refine conservation strategies.
Methods
Soil feeding activity was assessed using the bait-lamina method under different environmental conditions: in the dry and rainy seasons, in burned and unburned areas, and under native and invasive grasses.
Results
Feeding activity was significantly reduced after fire, but recovered to pre-fire levels with the rains. Activity increased significantly during the rainy season in both areas, being more pronounced in the unburned area. The highest feeding activity was observed under the invasive grass (Melinis minutiflora). Feeding activity declined with soil depth and was affected by season and fire.
Conclusions
Seasonality was the most important factor affecting the feeding activity of soil organisms, followed by the fire history and the extant vegetation. Although this method does not allow distinguishing between feeding activity of different organisms, it can provide valuable insights into differences in soil functioning due to changes in environmental conditions.
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Acknowledgments
We acknowledge the Fundação para Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) for a PhD grant to Carolina Musso (SFRH/BD/64938/2009) and the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES/Brasil) for the Project grant (A058/2013) to Amadeu M.V.M. Soares. This work was supported by European Funds through COMPETE and by National Funds through the Portuguese Science Foundation (FCT) within project PEst-C/MAR/LA0017/2013. IBAMA and the Parque Nacional de Brasília are acknowledged for permission to perform the study in the area. We are grateful to the Department of Ecology of the Universidade de Brasília for collaboration and technical support, Ana Catarina Bastos for English review and Marcela Manara and Marcelo da Silva Marinho for laboratory and field assistance. We thank the Bio-Protection Research Centre from Lincoln University, New Zealand, for providing the bait-lamina strips.
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Musso, C., Miranda, H.S., Soares, A.M.V.M. et al. Biological activity in Cerrado soils: evaluation of vegetation, fire and seasonality effects using the “bait-lamina test”. Plant Soil 383, 49–58 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-014-2233-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-014-2233-3