Estrutura da macrofauna edáfica em uma floresta ripária em recuperação na zona rural de São Carlos, SP

Abstract

The degradation of tropical forests, especially in riparian areas, compromises biodiversity and the ability of these ecosystems to provide essential services, such as nutrient cycling and water regulation. Forest restoration appears as a fundamental strategy to reverse this situation, but the complete recovery of ecological processes requires the rehabilitation of not only vegetation, but also soil fauna. This study aimed to evaluate the structure and diversity of soil macrofauna in a recovering riparian forest in the rural area of São Carlos, SP, after the implementation of an ecological restoration project. To this end, macroinvertebrates were collected using pitfall traps in three types of land use: pasture, area under restoration and forest remnants. Abundance, taxonomic richness and ecological indices, such as Shannon's index and Simpson's dominance index, were calculated to compare the different areas. The results indicated greater evenness and diversity in areas of remaining forest and restoration compared to pasture, highlighting the role of vegetation in increasing habitat complexity and in the recovery of soil fauna. The composition of soil macrofauna proved to be a sensitive indicator of the effectiveness of restoration practices, suggesting that macroinvertebrates can be used as bioindicators to monitor the success of ecological restoration projects.