Abstract:
Populations of soil-dwelling Collembola were
monitored on a land use gradient ranging from Natural
forests to intensively cultivated land during the wet
season October-November, 2007 and dry season
February-March, 2008. Eight land use types (LUTs)
which included stands of; Eucalyptus saligna, Vitex
keniensis, Pennisetum purpureum, indigenous forest,
fallow fields, Cammelia sinensis, Coffea africana and
Zea mays intercropped with Phaseolus vulgaris were
sampled for Collembola in Embu district. Collembola
population densities of (15,111 M²) were collected in
the study area. The Collembolan populations were
lower in all sites during the dry season (5,445 M²),
compared to those of wet season (9,666 M²). However,
the highest Collembolan population was observed in
undisturbed indigenous forest (38,089 M²) during the
dry season. A total of seventeen genera in seven
families were recorded. The genus Isotomiella was the
most abundant followed by Cryptopygus, Folsomina
and Parisotoma respectively. Results from this study
revealed that abundance, diversity and species richness
decreased along land use gradient with agro-based
LUTs presenting an impoverished community. The
level of organic matter as indicated by proportion of
Carbon and Nitrogen in LUTs such as Indigenous
forest, Eucalyptus forest and Cammelia sinensis
seemed to influence highly Collembolan assemblages.
The study concludes that land use intensification (land
disturbance) negatively influences the abundance and
species richness of soil Collembolan communities.
