Soil macrofauna communities in a long-term soil tillage experiment at Embrapa Soybean, Londrina, Paraná, Brazil

The soil macrofauna community was assessed in a long-term soil tillage experiment established in 1981 at the Embrapa Soybean research station in Londrina, Paraná, Brazil. The experiment is conducted under soybean-wheat double cropping and using three soil tillage types: no-tillage, conventional tillage (disk plow), and minimum tillage (chisel plow every 3 years). The experiment was replicated four times, and one sample was taken in each plot. Sampling was performed in September 2001 and October 2005, using the standard methodology of the Tropical Soil Biology and Fertility Programme (TSBF). Monoliths were hand-sorted for all litter and soil-dwelling taxa (down to 30 cm depth), and the abundance of a total of 42 taxa was assessed.