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).本数据集收录了巴西南洋杉（Araucaria）林（含原生常绿湿润混交林（native Ombrophylous mixed forest）与巴西南洋杉（Araucaria angustifolia）人工林）中的土壤大型动物（soil macrofauna）群落与蚯蚓（earthworm）类群数据，其构建基于截至2020年12月发表的相关主题文献。研究团队通过在线数据库检索了针对上述森林开展的土壤大型动物种群评估或蚯蚓采集研究，同时纳入非索引期刊、图书章节及会议论文集以扩大检索范围。 研究人员从13篇文献中提取了土壤、环境及大型动物相关变量数据；从23篇文献中提取了带有物种鉴定信息或无物种鉴定信息的蚯蚓种群数据。其中，土壤大型动物数据集涵盖31个采样点的信息，包含12项采样相关变量、13项气候与植被/管理相关环境变量、81项土壤动物相关变量以及35项土壤相关变量。蚯蚓数据集则涵盖50个采样点的信息，包含7项采样相关变量、4项气候相关变量、3项植被相关变量以及9项蚯蚓与采样相关变量。不过部分文献仅提供了植被类型相似的多个采样点及多个采样日期的均值数据。 原生南洋杉林的土壤大型动物总密度范围为119~2231 个体/平方米，巴西南洋杉人工林为364~1641 个体/平方米；两类森林的平均密度无显著差异（分别为802个体/平方米与760个体/平方米）。而就类群总丰富度而言，原生林（12个类群）显著低于人工林（19个类群），尽管人工林的采样点数量（8个）远少于原生林（23个）。优势大型动物类群依次为蚂蚁（占总个体数的25%~27%）、白蚁（26%~31%）以及甲虫（15%~18%）。仅在3个采样点（2项研究）中测定了土壤大型动物生物量。 原生林内蚯蚓密度范围为0~130个体/平方米，人工林为0~285个体/平方米；原生林的平均丰度（31个体/平方米）显著低于人工林（68个体/平方米）。本次数据集共记录到30种蚯蚓，其中原生林内有26种本土物种与7种外来/漫游物种，人工林内则有12种本土物种与6种外来/漫游物种。原生林每个采样点平均发现1.8种蚯蚓，人工林为2.1种，且两类森林的每个采样点至少存在1种本土物种。约50%的记录本土物种可能为尚未被正式描述的新物种。仅在16个采样点（5项研究）中测定了蚯蚓生物量。 本数据集关联于同一作者团队撰写的图书章节《南洋杉林土壤与近地表动物群落》（原葡萄牙语标题：Fauna edáfica e epiedáfica em Florestas com Araucária），收录于由V.A. Sousa、E. Fritzsons、A.V. Aguiar及J.E. Pinto Jr.编辑的专著《南洋杉：巴西农业研究公司（Embrapa）合作与集成系统中的研究与发展》，该专著于2021/2022年由巴西农业研究公司（Embrapa）出版。