Influence of edaphic ant fauna on physical, chemical and microbiological properties of soils in a land use gradient.
bioturbation, acethylene reduction assay, metagenomics
MOURA, Carlos Alberto Ribeiro de. Influence of edaphic ant fauna on physical, chemical and microbiological properties of soils in a land use gradient. 2019. 000 p. Thesis (Doctor Science in Agronomy, Soil Science). Instituto de Agronomia, Departamento de Solos, Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro, Seropédica, RJ, 2019.
This study addressed the effects of myrmecofauna on the diversity and dispersion of growth promoting microorganisms (microbiome), bioturbation and nutrient stocks in soils under agroecological management. The volumes of soil moved according to the soil horizons and their variations among nests of several species of soil ants were evaluated, with volumes varying from n L to n + 1 L. The granulometry of the bent material deposited in the form of mounds ???. The nutrient contents were. The microbiome associated with the soil modified by the nests presented ??? taxonomic units (OTU's) and was ??? of the surrounding soil. With the acetylene reduction analyzes in Solenopsis invicta individuals in vivo, a mean biological nitrogen fixation rate (BNF) of n kg /ha/year was quantified. The workers of S. invicta submitted to 16S rRNA analysis had n OTU's possible candidates to be among the species of bacteria responsible for BNF in these ants. This study reinforces the importance of Formicidae in agroecosystems and is the first study to quantify the endogenous BNF in ants and to correlate the rates of bioturbation to several edaphic species.