Abstract:
Soil Collembola communities were sampled along a
gradient of land use intensification in Taita-Taveta,
Wundanyi division, Coast Province during the wet
season (October-November 2007) and dry season
(February- March 2008). This gradient ranged from
Natural undisturbed land use to intensively cultivated
(disturbed) horticulture fields. The eight land use types
(LUTs) were stands of (1) Pinus patula, (2) Cypress
lusitanica, (3) Indigenous forest, (4) Fallow, (5)
Pennisetum purpureum, (6) horticulture fields, (7)
Coffea africana and (8) Zea mays intercropped with
Phaseolus vulgaris. The dynamic behavioural
modified Berlesse funnel technique was used for
collembolan extraction from soil. Collembola were
identified to genus level. 11462 individuals per m²
were identified from 30 genera. Generally, low
Collembolan population were recorded in the wet
season of 2007 with density of 2618 individuals per m²
compared to density of 8844 individuals per m² in the
dry season of 2008 sampled in all the land use types
(LUUs). The highest Collembolan population was
recorded in Cypress lusitanica with a density of 3781
individuals per m² and lowest in Zea mays
intercropped with Phaseolus vulgaris with a density of
198 individuals per m². A total of 30 genera in 11
families were recorded. The genus Cryptopygus was
the most commonly sampled followed by
Thalassaphorura, Parisotoma, Lepidocyrtus and
Folsomides (37.2%, 17.7%, 8.5%, 6.1% and 5.5%)
respectively. Land use type like Pinus patula, Cypress
lusitanica, and Pennisetum purpureum had high
carbon, nitrogen and acidity, supported high numbers
and diverse Collembolan assemblages. The results
show that both density and diversity of soil the
Collembolan communities were higher in undisturbed
sites than in disturbed land use types. In conclusion the
Collembolan communities are negatively impacted by
land use intensification.
