Urban agriculture as a biodiversity conservation environment for edaphic fauna in the West Zone of the municipality of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Urban Farm DB summary

A survey testing whether agroecological urban agriculture plots — described as remnants of biodiversity that also provide ecosystem services, food security and income — can shelter soil fauna in an urban setting. Fifteen areas forming a gradient from different plantations to forest were selected in the Campo Grande and Vargem Grande neighbourhoods of western Rio de Janeiro. At each area a transect of three sampling points 5 m apart was established; soil mesofauna was sampled with a specific auger from the litter layer down to 10 cm, and earthworms by the TSBF method at 0–10 cm. Soil fertility and texture were analysed at each point, landscape features were measured within buffers around each site, and multivariate techniques including principal component analysis were used to identify which soil attributes and landscape features most affect the occurrence and abundance of soil invertebrates.