Neotropical Biology and Conservation 14(2): 275–289 (2019) doi: 10.3897/neotropical.14.e38094 RESEARCH ARTICLE Effects of weed management on soil mites in coffee plantations in a Neotropical environment Efeito dos diferentes tipos de métodos de manejo de ervas daninhas em ácaros de solo em plantações de café Patrícia de Pádua Marafeli1, Paulo Rebelles Reis2, Leopoldo Ferreira de Oliveira Bernardi1, Elifas Nunes de Alcântara2, Pablo Antonio Martinez3 1 Universidade Federal de Lavras, Departamento de Entomologia, Pós-Graduação em Entomologia, Lavras, MG, Brazil 2 Empresa de Pesquisa Agropecuária de Minas Gerais, EcoCentro Lavras, MG, Brazil 3 Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Mar del Plata, Argentina Corresponding author: Leopoldo Ferreira de Oliveira Bernardi ([email protected]) Academic editor: A.M. Leal-Zanchet | Received 28 October 2018 | Accepted 31 March 2019 | Published 25 July 2019 Citation: Pádua Marafeli P, Reis PR, Oliveira Bernardi LF, Alcântara EN, Martinez PA (2019) Effects of weed management on soil mites in coffee plantations in a Neotropical environment. Neotropical Biology and Conservation 14(2): 275–289. https://doi.org/10.3897/neotropical.14.e38094 Abstract Environmental disturbance, as a result of land use change and/or different agricultural practices, may have negative impacts on the richness and abundance of edaphic mites. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of different weed management methods in coffee plantations on edaphic mites, and to compare these results with mite communities of native forest habitats in southeastern Brazil. Soil samples were taken between the rows of a coffee plantation under different weed management methods, such as without weeding, manual weeding, agricultural grid, contact herbicide (glyphosate), residual herbicide (oxyfluorfen), mechanical tiller, and mechanical mower, and in a native forest area. Weed management affected edaphic mite communities, with the residual herbicide treatment having the greatest impact on species composition, abundance, richness and diversity. The use of manual weeding and the maintenance of unweeded areas were the practices that preserved mite communities Copyright Patrícia de Pádua Marafeli et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. 276 Patrícia de Pádua Marafeli et al. closest to those found in native forest habitats. Thus, such practices are recommended as best practices in coffee plantations. Among the studied mites, the groups Oribatida and Mesostigmata were found in all sites, presenting the greatest abundance and richness, and were sensitive to different forms of weed control. On this basis, we suggest these groups as indicators of soil quality in coffee plantations. Resumo Ácaros edáficos podem responder a mudanças ambientais, diferentes tipos de usos da terra e as difer- entes práticas agrícolas, alterando sua riqueza e abundância. Assim, o objetivo deste trabalho foi aval- iar os efeitos nestes organismos de diferentes métodos de manejo de plantas daninhas em cafezais, além de comparar esses resultados com uma área de floresta nativa. Amostras de solo foram coletadas em floresta e nas linhas de cafezais que receberam diferentes métodos de manejo de plantas danin- has: sem capina, capina manual, grade agrícola, herbicida de contato (glifosato), herbicida residual (oxifluorfen), grade rotativa e roçadeira mecânica. O estudo foi realizado na Estação Experimental da EPAMIG, em Minas Gerais, Brasil, durante o ano de 2013. Em geral, o manejo de plantas daninhas afetou a comunidade de ácaros edáficos, sendo o uso de herbicida residual o método que resultou em uma maior mudança na composição de espécies, além da maior redução na abundância, riqueza e diversidade de ácaros. Já o uso de capina manual e a manutenção de locais sem capina, são as práticas que mantiveram a acarofauna de solo em parâmetros similares aqueles encontrados em solo de mata nativa, e por isso são aqueles mais que devem ter seu uso recomendados. Dentre os ácaros estudados, a coorte Oribatida e os Mesostigmata foram aqueles presentes em todos os locais, apresentando maior riqueza e abundância, além de serem afetados pelas diferentes práticas de controle de erva daninha. Assim, sugere-se sua utilização como indicadores da qualidade do solo. Keywords Coffea arabica, communities, edaphic mites, seasonality, weed management Palavras-chave ácaros edáficos, Coffea arabica, comunidades, manejo de ervas daninhas, sazonalidade Introduction Intensive management of weedy vegetation in agricultural plantations can be ac- complished by means of manual, mechanized or chemical techniques. However, such management can compromise production costs and lead to loss of soil func- tioning when conducted without concern for biodiversity or without critical evalu- ation of the effects on soil properties (Melloni et al. 2012). Edaphic mesofauna are directly associated with soil quality and plant growth. This group of organisms is involved in decomposition and mineralization of organic matter, and the regulation of nutrient cycles, as well as soil-plant interactions. The most important active organisms in the soil are bacteria, fungi, nematodes, mites, springtails and earthworms. The vital processes of each soil organism contribute in such a way that the combination of their activities results in nutrient cycling, includ- ing the decomposition of soil organic matter (Bohm et al. 2010). Natural and anthropogenic factors are related to changes in the biodiversity of edaphic mites. Soil management is one of the most common anthropogenic fac- Weed management effects on soil mite 277 tors that negatively affects biodiversity by causing changes in microclimatic condi- tions and food availability. Evaluations of the impacts of soil management systems on soil mesofauna are very important from an environmental quality perspective (Rieff et al. 2010). Soil mites are one of the most important indicators of soil quality. For this rea- son, the identification and evaluation of the density and diversity of these organisms in soil is essential to understanding the adequacy of management systems. This type of information is very important when evaluating the sustainability of agroecosys- tems, and may be essential in the identification of a bioindicator or biological indi- cator of sustainability or a biological indicator of sustainability, such as soil quality (Silva et al. 2007). However, the effects of different methods of soil management on the diversity of soil fauna are still poorly known, especially for Neotropical mites. It is worth mentioning that edaphic mite monitoring for the evaluation of soil qual- ity is very complex (Cluzeau et al. 2012). Studies that mainly involve identification at the family, genus and species levels may be useful for revealing changes in more detail (Postma-Blaaw et al. 2010). This type of information is vital for the proper choice of management methods that minimize effects on the edaphic fauna. The objectives of this work were to 1) evaluate the effects of six methods of management of unwanted weedy vegetation between rows of coffee plants on the edaphic mites of the soil mesofauna, and 2) compare these areas with a local native forest soil biota. Material and methods Study site The study was conducted at the Experimental Station of Empresa de Pesquisa Agro- pecuária de Minas Gerais – EPAMIG Sul (20°54'27"S, 47°09'49"W, WGS84), in the municipality of São Sebastião do Paraíso, Minas Gerais (MG), Brazil. The site is 837 m a.s.l. The region has a mean annual temperature of 20.8 °C and a mean an- nual rainfall of approximately 1400 mm. The rains mainly occur between October and April. The site had already implemented an experiment involving different methods of managing weed plants in coffee (Coffea arabica L.) plantations of the cultivar Paraíso. The plants, growing in Dystroferric Red Latosol (Oxisol) soil, were six years of age and spaced 0.7 m apart in rows separated by 4 m. Experimental design The experiment was conducted in an open area of a conventional coffee planta- tion without any control of the environmental factors. A randomized block design was used with eight treatments and three replications. The treatments were: (1) no weeding, (2) manual weeding, (3) agricultural grid, (4) contact herbicide (glypho- 278 Patrícia de Pádua Marafeli et al. sate), (5) residual herbicide (oxyfluorfen), (6) agricultural mechanical tiller, (7) ag- ricultural mower machine and (8) native forest as a control area. Management prac- tices in the studied coffee plantations followed conventional protocols (Alcântara and Cunha 2010), with management occurring when weedy vegetation reached a height of 15 cm. As plant growth may vary according to local climatic and soil con- ditions, the frequency of management can also vary between sites, but four to six cuts per year using either manual or mechanical mowing, and two to four applica- tions of herbicides, dependent on their mode of action, are considered typical of the study region. Naturally, areas designated to the control treatment were left without management throughout the experimental period. The native forest was located about 500 m from the coffee plantation and had the same type of soil. It consisted of tropical sub-perennial native forest, and served as a reference treatment (control), representing