Abstract
Different approaches to biodiversity yield global totals as small as 3 million or as large as 80 million species. Erwin's calculation and estimation leads to an estimate of ca 30 million species and relies on four assumptions of which one concerns the ratio between the number of canopy insects and those found elsewhere, especially in the soil. A short survey of the microarthropods living in coastal sand dunes and collected with a new flotation method yielded amazing results. In spite of the severity of the habitat (low organic matter content and extreme dryness), the density of microarthropods varied between 175 000 and 1 400 000 individuals per square metre, i.e., densities 3 to 10 times higher than densities usually observed in any other type of soil. A total of 31 species was recorded, most undescribed and smaller than 200 μm. The consequences of these findings on the estimation of the number of species are discussed. It is suggested that the soil, including the deepest horizons and the rhizosphere, might constitute a huge reservoir for biodiversity.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adis, J. (1988) On the abundance and density of terrestrial arthropods in Central Amazonian dryland forests. J. Trop. Ecol. 4, 19–24.
André, H.M., Lebrun, Ph. and Noti, M.-I. (1992) Biodiversity in Africa: a plea for more data. J. Afr. Zool. 106, 3–15.
André, H.M. and Noti, M.-I. (1993) Extracting sand microarthropods: a carbon tetrachloride flotation method. Eur. J. Soil Biol. (In press).
Basset, Y. and Kitching, R.L. (1991) Species number, species abundance and body length of arboreal arthropods associated with an Australian rainforest tree. Ecol. Entomol. 16, 391–402.
Christian, E. and Thibaud, J.-M. (1988) Terrestrich-interstitielle Collembolen aus österreichischen und ungarischen Sanden. Pedobiologia 31, 229–37.
Coineau, Y. and Massoud, Z. (1977) Découverte d'un nouveau peuplement psammique: les microarthropodes du milieu interstitiel des sables fins. C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris 285D, 1073–4.
Coineau, Y. and Seely, M.K. (1983) Mise en évidence d'un peuplement de microarthropods dans les sables fins des dunes du Namib central. In New Trends in Soil Biology (Ph.Lebrun, H.M.André, A.DeMedts, A.Grégoire-Wilbo and G.Wauthy, eds) pp. 652–4. Ottignies: Dieu-Brichart.
Coleman, D.C., Crossley, D.A.Jr., Bear, M.H. and Hendrix, P.F. (1988) Interactions of organisms at root/soil and litter/soil interfaces in terrestrial ecosystems. Agric. Ecosystems Environ. 24, 117–34.
Curry, J.P., Boyle, K.E. and Farrell, E.P. (1989) The invertebrate fauna of reclaimed cutaway peat in central Ireland and its influence on soil fertility and plant growth. Agric. Ecosystems Environ. 27, 217–25.
Curry, J.P. and Momen, F.M. (1988) The arthropod fauna of grassland on reclaimed cutaway peat in central Ireland. Pedobiologia 32, 99–109.
Erwin, T.L. (1982) Tropical forests: their richness in Coleoptera and other arthropod species. Coleopt. Bull. 36, 74–5.
Erwin, T.L. (1983) Tropical forest canopies: the last biotic frontier. Bull. Ent. Soc. Am. 29, 14–9.
Erwin, T.L. and Scott, J.C. (1980) Seasonal and size patterns, trophic structure and richness of Coleoptera in the tropical arboreal ecosystem: the fauna of the tree Luehea seemannii Triana and Planch in the canal zone of Panama. Coleopt. Bull. 34, 305–22.
Fain, A., Coineau, Y. and André, H.M. (1993) Descriptions de deux espèces nouvelles d'Astigmates sabulicoles (Acari). Acarologia 34, 149–58.
Farrar, F.P. and Crossley, D.A.Jr. (1983) Detection of soil microarthropod aggregations in soybean fields, using a modified Tullgren extractor. Environ. Entomol. 12, 1303–9.
Gaston, K.J. (1991) Body size and probability of description: the beetle fauna of Britain. Ecol. Entomol. 16, 505–8.
Kethley, J. (1990) Acarina: Prostigmata (Actinedida). In Soil Biology Guide (D.L.Dindal, ed.) pp. 667–756. New York: Wiley & Sons.
Lebrun, Ph. (1971) Ecologie et biocénotique de quelques peuplements d'arthropodes édaphiques. Mém. Inst. r. Sci. Nat. Belg. 165, 1–203.
Lebrun, Ph. and Wauthy, G. (1981) Quelques observations et réflexions sur les peuplements d'oribates hypogés. Annls. Soc. r. Zool. Belg. 111, 131–42.
Luxton, M. (1981) Studies on the prostigmatic mites of a Danish beech wood soil. Pedobiologia 22, 277–303.
Maldague, M.E. (1961) Relations entre le couvert végétal et la microfaunae dans la conservation biologique des sols tropicaux. Publications de l'I.N.E.A.C. 90, 1–122.
Mallow, D., Ludwig, D. and Crossley, D.A.Jr (1984) Microarthropod community structure in a coastal dune ecosystem on Jekyll Island, Georgia USA. Pedobiologia 27, 365–76.
Matthey, W., Dethier, M., Galland, P., Lienhard, C., Rohrer, N. and Schiess, T. (1981) Etude écologique et biocénotique d'une pelouse alpine au Parc national suisse. Bull. Ecol. 12, 339–54.
May, R.M. (1988) How many species are there on earth? Science 241, 1441–9.
May, R.M. (1990) How many species? Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B. 330, 293–304.
May, R.M. (1992) Past efforts and future prospects towards understanding how many species there are. Proceedings of the symposium on Biological Diversity and Global Change, 24th General Assembly of IUBS, Amsterdam, 3–5 September 1991 (In press).
Morse, D.R., Stork, N.E. and Lawton, J.H. (1988) Species number, species abundance and body length relationship of arboreal beetles in Bornean lowland rain forest trees. Ecol. Entomol. 13, 25–37.
Poinsot, N. (1966) Etude écologique des Collemboles des dunes de Beynes (Haute Camargue). Revue Ecol. Biol. Sci. 3, 483–93.
Price, D.W. (1973) Abundance and vertical distribution of micoarthropods in the surface layers of a California Pine forest soil. Hilgardia 42, 121–47.
Seastedt, T.R. (1984) The role of microarthropods in decomposition and mineralization processes. Ann. Rev. Entomol. 29, 25–46.
Schaeffer, M. and Shauermann, J. (1990) The soil-fauna of beech forests: comparison between a mull and a moder soil. Pedobiologia 34, 299–314.
Steinberger, Y. (1990) Acarofauna of a Negev desert loes plain. Acarologia 31, 313–9.
Stork, N.E. (1988) Insect diversity: facts, fiction and speculation. Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 35, 321–37.
Stork, N.E. and Brendell, M.J.D. (1992) Arthropod abundance in lowland rain forest of Seram. Indonesia. In The Natural History of Seram (I. Edwards and J. Proctor, eds) (In press).
Stork, N.E. and Gaston, K. (1990) Counting species one by one. New Scientist 11, 43–7.
Thibaud, J.-M. and Christian, E. (1989) Collemboles interstitiels aériens des sables littoraux méditerranéens. Annls Soc. ent. Fr. (N.S.) 25, 71–81.
Usher, M.B. (1988) Soil invertebrates: Species, populations, communities, modelling and conservation with special reference to the African continent. Revue Zool. Afr. 102, 285–300.
Villalobos, F.J. and Lavelle, P. (1990) The soil coleoptera community of a tropical grassland from Laguna Verde, Veracruz (Mexico). Revue Ecol. Biol. Sol 27, 73–93.
Wallwork, J.A. (1976) The Distribution and Diversity of Soil Fauna. London: Academic Press.
Winter, J.P., Voroney, R.P. and Ainsworth, D.A. (1990) Soil microarthropods in long-term notillage and conventional tillage corn production. Can. J. Soil Sci. 70, 641–53.
Yoshida, S., Suzuki, T., Kim, J.H. and Kurihara, Y. (1989) Community of soil microarthropods in a reclaimed land of western Korea. Ecol. Rev. 21, 259–64.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
André, H.M., Noti, M.I. & Lebrun, P. The soil fauna: the other last biotic frontier. Biodivers Conserv 3, 45–56 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00115332
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00115332