A worldwide assessment of soil macroinvertebrate communities

Soil macroinvertebrate communities have been assessed worldwide using the
standard ISO/TSBF sampling procedure. The Macrofauna database currently
comprises 3694 sites distributed throughout 41 countries, from 55º S
latitude to 57ºN, sea level to over 4000m in elevation, in total annual
total rainfall regimes between 500 and >3000mm and 5 to 32ºC mean
temperature. These communities are significantly influenced by climatic
parameters, soil texture and vegetation cover. Abundance and diversity
were highest in tropical rain forests (1895 ± 305 individuals m-2) and
natural savannahs (1796 ± 269), and progressively lower in
 tropical cropping systems (tree associated crops 1358 ± 101,
pastures or transitory crops: 1178 ± 147), temperate grasslands: 583 ± 70,
temperate forests: 529 ± 71, annual crops: 232 ± 14 and dry forest: 221 ±
52 systems.