A Rapid Assessment of the Existence (or Survival) of Macro Fauna in Different Land Uses in Kween District of Mount Elgon
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Date
2021
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Research Square
Abstract
We explored the effect of different land uses on soil macro fauna species richness, abundance and diversity in
Mount Elgon areas of Kween District, Uganda.
Results
Species richness was higher on the subsurface of the different land uses than belowground. A total of 647
individuals of both subsurface and belowground macro fauna were identified from the different land uses. Macro
fauna abundance significantly varied across the five different land uses (H=10.1, d.f.=4, p=0.04). The average
diversity of the subsurface was higher (0.71) than that belowground (0.20). The highest diversity of macro fauna
was found in the intercrop of maize-beans followed by natural vegetation. Maize monocrop had the least
abundance and diversity of both surface crawling and belowground macro fauna. This could be due the diversity
of food and living environments as mixed cropping introduces landscape heterogeneity that accommodates
diverse organisms across different land use systems. This study recommends extended studies on taxonomy,
ecology and management of soil macro fauna with detailed inventories on the functional groups across land
use/cover types and evaluations of varied agricultural intensification regimes on abundance and diversity of soil
above and below ground macro fauna.
Description
Keywords
Macro fauna, Abundance, Diversity, Land use
Citation
Aggrey, S., Kato, A. M., Egeru, A., & Luswata, K. C. (2021). A Rapid Assessment of the Existence (or Survival) of Macro Fauna in Different Land Uses in Kween District of Mount Elgon. https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-146834/v1