Publication Date

Fall 2025

Abstract

Tropical edaphic invertebrates lie at the intersection of three historically understudied domains: tropical habitats, soil ecosystems, and terrestrial invertebrate biodiversity (Boyle et al. 2024; Lugo et al., 2024). Approximately 80% of tropical invertebrates remain undescribed, leaving major gaps in the understanding of how land-use change and climate change may affect their diversity and ecological function. The Amazon Basin, one of the world’s most biologically and culturally diverse regions, is increasingly threatened by land use change and deforestation. While agriculture is the second main driver of forest conversion in the basin, Indigenous Agroforestry systems such as Kichwa Chakras in the Ecuadorian Amazon offer a model for sustaining forest connectivity within agricultural landscapes. Conducted in Tena Canton, Napo Province, Ecuador, this study evaluated edaphic invertebrate assemblages along a perturbation gradient of a recently deforested site, mature cacao Chakra, and primary forest to model land use change dynamics. Nuances between edaphic invertebrate assemblages and their impact on soil health were evaluated by a recently developed index by Lugo et al. (2024). This study concluded that the primary forest and the mature Chakra exhibited comparable levels of soil health, while the recently disturbed site was substantially less healthy. Species richness and abundance were similar between the Chakra and forest, but low community similarity indices support distinct invertebrate assemblages, likely shaped by differences in forestry and soil horizons. These findings suggest the potential for Chakra agroforestry to restore soil health to levels greater than primary forest following disturbances, but with a unique set of edaphic invertebrates adapted to the different ecological niche.

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Life Sciences

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