The earthworms of wooded areas and agroecosistemas of the municipality of San Antonio Sacatepéquez, Department of San Marcos, Guatemala

Abstract

The richness of earthworms was determined in two types of ecosystems: forests (natural) and agroecosystems with annual crops of San Antonio Sacatepéquez. 16 sites were sampled; these were determined by overlaying the maps -shapes- of life zones (De la Cruz, 1982); series of soils (Simmons et al., 1959) and municipal forest cover, using Quantum Gis software; in order to zonify those areas that differ by these ecological variables and by type of ecosystem. The samplings were carried out in September and October 2014, according to the Method of the International Program of Tropical Soil Biology and Fertility (TSBF), the basic unit of sampling was a cube -monolith- of 25 x 25 x 30 cm depth . Five cubes were made per site, without stratifying the extracted earth by layers. In total, six earthworm species were determined, four native: Ramiellona aff vulcanica, Ramiellona sp, Kaxdrilus parkus and Kaxdrilus sp, of the family Acanthodrilidae; and two exotics: Aporrectodea trapezoides and Octalasión tyrtaeum of the family Lumbricidae. The greatest wealth was found in forest with three native species and one exotic: R. aff vulcanica, K. parkus, K. sp, O. tyrtaeum; and in agroecosystems three species (Ramiellona sp and both exotic). The study contributed with five new records for Guatemala. It is important to continue studying the Guatemalan oligoquetofauna and take advantage of it in the generation of vermicomposting, or reproduce them and introduce them to the agricultural and forestry systems in projects that try to elevate the fertility of the soils and their restoration.