Diversity Of The Edaphic Fauna Of Soils Cultivated With Coffee In Southern Colombia

The edaphic fauna is a biological indicator of soil fertility. Knowing its diversity allows establishing functional relationships with it and making decisions to establish conservation practices. The objective of this work was to evaluate the richness (Ri), relative abundance (AR), and diversity of the edaphic fauna in four municipalities of the department of Narino, La Union, Sandona, Consaca y La Florida. The samplings were carried out at three altitudes, which were considered as replicates. In secondary forests and coffee crops, Ri and AR were recorded in mulch, between 10 and 20 cm, and between 20 and 30 cm deep. In Consaca, were registered 19,836 individuals of 24 orders, of which 37.6% corresponded to forest and 62.4% to coffee. Florida showed 13,980 individuals from 16 orders of which 41.3% were located in the forest and 58.7% in coffee. In La Union, were found 6,935 individuals in 17 orders, where 64.2% were located in the forest and 35.8% in coffee. The number of individuals in Sandona was 10,436, of which 10.7% were located in the forest and 89.3% in coffee. In forests, there were higher values of diversity than in coffee crops. The systems x depths interaction was not significant, an exception of the Shannon-Weaver and Simpson indices in Sandona. Hymenoptera, Acari and Coleoptera were the most prevalent with differences in Ri and AR between forest and coffee.