Epiedaphic macrofauna in areas submitted to forest restoration technologies in southern Brazil

Abstract

The objective was to characterize the composition of the epiedaphic macrofauna in areas undergoing initial forest restoration using different restoration technologies and to compare these parameters with a reference forest. The study was conducted in the experimental area of Ecological Restoration of the UTFPR, Dois Vizinhos/Paraná state, in randomized blocks, composed of three treatments (RP-passive restoration, PAD-high diversity planting, and NC-nucleation) with four repetitions. Adjacent to this, the fragment of secondary native forest (FL), is used as a reference. The collections were made in November 2010 and April 2011, and three pitfall traps were installed in each plot. Richness and abundance were submitted to normality tests, homogeneity of variance and analysis of variance, and the Shannon and Pielou indices were calculated. The abundance data of the taxonomic groups were submitted to principal component analysis (PCA). To verify the differences in the macrofauna composition between the forest and restoration technologies, similarity analysis (ANOSIM) and percentage of similarity (SIMPER) were performed. We sampled 12,681 individuals, 3,018 in November/2010 and 9,663 in April/2011, distributed in 23 orders. The abundance and richness of the forest differed significantly from the restorative technologies in both assessments. The high abundance observed in the restorative techniques reflected the dominance of Hymenoptera, Coleoptera and Polyxenida. FL showed higher diversity and equitability, regardless the sampling season. The PCA separated the forest technologies by differences in the composition of the edaphic fauna, and the same did not occur between the restoration techniques. In ANOSIM and SIMPER the main orders contributing to the forest differentiation of the technologies in November/10 were Diptera, Coleoptera, Orthoptera, Blattodea, and in April/11 Polyxenida, Hemiptera, Hymenoptera and Orthoptera. The edaphic macrofauna was influenced by the degree of anthropic interference, being a good indicator of environmental changes and ecological succession observed in areas undergoing initial forest restoration.

Keywords:
Pitfall traps; Bioindicators; Soil fauna; Ecological restoration