Abundance and diversity of earthworms in managed and non-managed fallow lands of Calakmul Reserve of Campeche, Mexico

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In Mexico, the best preserved tropical rain forest is found in Calakmul Reserve, where fallow land management has been established. Fallow lands are developed as a consequence of a successional vegetation process after clearing the primary vegetation and milpa production. Forty-nine sites were studied, where 17 were managed fallow lands, 24 non-managed fallow lands, and 8 tropical rain forests. Earthworms were collected at the end of the raining season, and four monoliths of 25 × 25 × 30 cm were developed per site according to the TSBF method. We observed how Zapatadrilus siboney, a native species was dominant in managed and non-managed fallow lands. Earthworm’s total biomass and density were not significantly different between the managed and non-managed fallow lands. Earthworm’s species richness was significantly low in non-managed fallow lands. We observed a strong correlation between earthworm density and richness with the age of the fallow lands (r2: 0.9 and 0.7; p < 0.05, respectively). The management type of the fallow land seems to affect earthworm biomasses (r2: 0.56; p < 0.05). eng