A “Dirty” Footprint: Macroinvertebrate diversity in Amazonian Anthropic Soils

Wilian Demetrio (1) , Ana Conrado (1) , Agno Acioli (2) , Alexandre Ferreira (1) , Marie Bartz (3) , Samuel James (4) , Elodie Silva (5) , Lilianne Maia (1) , Gilvan Martins (6) , Rodrigo Macedo (7) , David Stanton (8) , Patrick Lavelle (9) , Elena Velasquez (10) , Anne Zangerlé , Rafaella Barbosa , Sandra Tapia‐coral , Aleksander Muniz (6) , Alessandra Santos (1) , Talita Ferreira (1) , Rodrigo Segalla (1) , Thibaud Decaëns (11) , Herlon Nadolny (1) , Clara Peña‐venegas (12) , Cláudia Maia (5) , Amarildo Pasini (13) , André Mota (1) , Paulo Taube Júnior (14) , Telma Silva (15) , Lilian Rebellato (14) , Raimundo Oliveira Júnior (16) , Eduardo Neves (17) , Helena Lima (18) , Rodrigo Feitosa (1) , Pablo Vidal Torrado (18) , Doyle Mckey (11) , Charles Clement (15) , Myrtle Shock (14) , Wenceslau Teixeira (19) , Antônio Motta (1) , Vander Melo (1) , Jeferson Dieckow (1) , Marilice Garrastazu (4) , Leda Chubatsu (1) , Peter Kille (20) , George Brown (5, 1) , Luís Cunha (21, 3)

1 UFPR - Universidade Federal do Paraná [Curitiba, Brasil] = Federal University of Paraná [Curitiba, Brazil] = Université fédérale du Paraná [Curitiba, Brésil]
2 Federal University of Amazonas
3 UC - University of Coimbra [Portugal]
4 MIU - Maharishi International University [Fairfield]
5 Embrapa Florestas
6 Embrapa Amazônia Ocidental
7 INSA - Instituto Nacional do Semiárido
8 NRM - Swedish Museum of Natural History
9 IRD [Nouvelle-Calédonie] - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement
10 Universidad Nacional de Colombia Sede Palmira
11 CEFE - Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive
12 Instituto Amazonico de Investigaciones Cientificas
13 State University of Londrina = Universidade Estadual de Londrina
14 UFOPA - Universidade Federal do Oeste do Pará [Santarém]
15 INPA - Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia = National Institute of Amazonian Research
16 EMBRAPA Amazônia Oriental
17 MPEG - Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi [Belém, Brésil]
18 Universidade Federal de São Paulo
19 Embrapa Solos
20 Cardiff University
21 USW - University of South Wales

Amazonian rainforests, once thought to be pristine wilderness, are increasingly known to have been widely inhabited, modified, and managed prior to European arrival, by human populations with diverse cultural backgrounds. Amazonian Dark Earths (ADEs) are fertile soils found throughout the Amazon Basin, created by pre-Columbian societies with sedentary habits. Much is known about the chemistry of these soils, yet their zoology has been neglected. Hence, we characterized soil fertility, macroinvertebrate communities, and their activity at nine archeological sites in three Amazonian regions in ADEs and adjacent reference soils under native forest (young and old) and agricultural systems. We found 673 morphospecies and, despite similar richness in ADEs (385 spp.) and reference soils (399 spp.), we identified a tenacious pre-Columbian footprint, with 49% of morphospecies found exclusively in ADEs. Termite and total macroinvertebrate abundance were higher in reference soils, while soil fertility and macroinvertebrate activity were higher in the ADEs, and associated with larger earthworm quantities and biomass. We show that ADE habitats have a unique pool of species, but that modern land use of ADEs decreases their populations, diversity, and contributions to soil functioning. These findings support the idea that humans created and sustained high-fertility ecosystems that persist today, altering biodiversity patterns in Amazonia.

Mots clés: Amazonian Dark Earths; ants; archeological sites; disturbance; earthworms; land-use change; soil fauna; soil fertility; termites; Terra Preta

Domaines: Ecologie, Environnement

Wilian Demetrio, Ana Conrado, Agno Acioli, Alexandre Ferreira, Marie Bartz, et al.. A “Dirty” Footprint: Macroinvertebrate diversity in Amazonian Anthropic Soils. Global Change Biology, 2021, 27 (19), pp.4575-4591. ⟨10.1111/gcb.15752⟩. ⟨hal-03648980⟩