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The objective of this work was to assess the effects of integrated crop-livestock systems, associated
with two tillage and two fertilization regimes, on the abundance and diversity of the soil macrofauna. Four
different management systems were studied: continuous pasture (mixed grass); continuous crop; two croplivestock
rotations (crop/pasture and pasture/crop); and native Cerrado as a control. Macrofauna was sampled
using a modified Tropical Soil Biology and Fertility method, and all individuals were counted and identified at
the morphospecies level for each plot. A total of 194 morphospecies were found, distributed among 30 groups,
and the most representative in decreasing order of density were: Isoptera, Coleoptera larvae, Formicidae,
Oligochaeta, Coleoptera adult, Diplopoda, Hemiptera, Diptera larvae, Arachnida, Chilopoda, Lepidoptera,
Gasteropoda, Blattodea and Orthoptera. Soil management systems and tillage regimes affected the structure of
soil macrofauna, and integrated crop-livestock systems, associated with no-tillage, especially with grass/legume
species associations, had more favorable conditions for the development of soil engineers compared with
continuous pasture or arable crops. Soil macrofauna density and diversity, assessed at morphospecies level, are
effective data to measure the impact of land use in Cerrado soils.
