| dc.description.abstract | The study set out to determine, characterize and compare geomorphologic, physiographic land use types and agroecosystem intensification, assess physicochemical nature of soil at benchmark study sites of Embu and Taita Kenya. Then determine macrofauna occurrence, abundance and diversity along a land use intensification chronosequence and explore their relations with soil characteristics, and impacts of land use and agricultural intensification on diversity and abundance of soil macrofauna. Then finally determine effects of soil fertility amendments on earthworms in a maize based agroecosystem. Specific stages within of study included site characterization, stratified sampling of macrofauna and estimation their abundance, biomass and diversity in land use mosaics subjected to varying degrees of anthropogenic intensification and determination of within and between land use mosaic macrofauna diversity.
The study synthesized and appraised importance of macrofauna in soil structure stability and quality, soil organic matter translocations, decomposition and inorganic soil components. Findings from this study provide baseline data and information on use of macrofauna in evaluating potential consequences of anthropogenic management practices as global change drivers of ecosystem processes responsible for loss or maintenance of soil productivity.
Key words: Macrofauna biodiversity, Earthworms, Geomorphology, Physiography, Land use, Soil fertility, Soil degradation, Agricultural intensification, Kenya | en_US |
