Soil macrofauna and earthworm communities in Araucaria forests

A dataset of soil macrofauna and earthworm communities found in Brazilian Araucaria forests (native Ombrophylous mixed forest and Araucaria angustifolia plantations) was constructed using literature published up to December 2020 on the topic. Studies that evaluated soil macrofauna populations or that collected earthworm in these forests were searched in online databases. Non-indexed journals, book chapters, and conference proceedings were also considered, thus expanding the search. Data on soil, environmental and macrofauna variables were extracted from 13 publications, while data on earthworm populations with or without species identification were extracted from 23 publications. The dataset on macrofauna presents data from 31 sites, including 12 sampling-related variables, 13 climate and vegetation/management-related environmental variables, and 81 soil fauna-related variables and 35 soil-related variables. The earthworm dataset presents data from 50 sites, including 7 sampling-related variables, 4 climate-related variables, 3 vegetation-related variables and 9 earthworm and sampling-related variables. However, some publications provided only means for several sites with similar vegetation type, and for several sampling dates. Total macrofauna density ranged from 119 to 2,231 ind./m2 in native Araucaria forests and from 364 to 1,641 ind./m2 in the A. angustifolia plantations, although mean density in both forests was not significantly different (802 and 760 ind./m2, respectively). Total group richness, on the other hand was significantly lower in the native forest (12 groups) than the Araucaria plantations (19 groups), though the number of plantations was much lower (8) than the forests (23). The most abundant macrofauna taxa were ants (25-27% of total), termites (26-31% total) and beetles (15-18% total). Soil macrofauna biomass was measured at only 3 sites (2 studies). Earthworm density ranged from 0 to 130 ind./m2 in the native forests and from 0 to 285 ind./m2 in the Araucaria plantations. Mean abundance was significantly lower in the native forests (31 ind./m2) than the plantations (68 ind./m2). Overall, 30 earthworm species were found, of which 26 were native and seven exotic/peregrine in the native forests and 12 native and six exotic/peregrine in the plantations. On average, 1.8 species were found per site in native forests, and 2.1 in the plantations, of which at least one was a native species in both forest types. About 50% of the native species found probably represent new, still undescribed species. Earthworm biomass was measured in only 16 sites (5 studies). This dataset is associated with a book chapter entitled “Fauna edáfica e epiedáfica em Florestas com Araucária” by the same authors, in the book “Araucária: pesquisa e desenvolvimento no sistema cooperativo e integrado da Embrapa”, edited by V.A. Sousa, E. Fritzsons, A.V. Aguiar, and J.E. Pinto Jr., and published in 2021/2022 by Embrapa (Brazil).