Soil organic carbon stocks, litter decomposition, and soil macrofauna diversity across contrasting land uses within a dual-purpose cattle farm in the Colombian Amazonian foothills
- 1Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias, Universidad de Antioquia, Grupo de Investigación en Ciencias Agrarias (GRICA), Ciudadela Robledo, Medellín, Antioquia, Colombia
- 2Corporación Colombiana de Investigación Agropecuaria (AGROSAVIA), Centro de Investigación El Nus, San Roque, Antioquia, Colombia
- 3Servicio Nacional de Aprendizaje – SENA – Regional Putumayo, Puerto Asís, Putumayo, Colombia
Abstract
Silvopastoral systems and other tree-based land uses are increasingly promoted for soil conservation and climate-change mitigation in tropical livestock landscapes. However, their relationships with soil organic carbon (SOC), litter decomposition, and soil macrofauna remain poorly characterized in Amazonian production systems. In this single-farm case study, we assessed SOC distribution and stocks, soil bulk density (ρb), early litter decomposition, and soil macrofaunal communities across five contrasting land-use sites in the Colombian Amazonian foothills. The silvopastoral site had been established 18 months before sampling, allowing characterization of its early-stage soil conditions. Depth-stratified sampling showed pronounced SOC enrichment in the 0–10 cm layer at the silvopastoral site, which also had lower overall ρb than open pasture (1.29 vs. 1.48 g cm−3). However, SOC stocks from the independently sampled 0–30 cm profile were comparable between these sites. Cumulative litter mass loss increased during the 60-day evaluation and varied among forage species and sites, whereas C and N concentrations and C:N showed no statistically supported temporal changes. Macrofaunal organization varied among sites and soil depths; the silvopastoral site had the highest observed Shannon diversity in the 0–10 cm layer (H′ = 1.14), although no site consistently showed the greatest diversity and evenness across all depths. Overall, the silvopastoral site combined favorable surface soil attributes with comparatively high upper-layer macrofaunal diversity. Given the cross-sectional design and single-site representation of each land use, these findings constitute a baseline characterization of site-specific conditions rather than evidence of changes attributable to silvopastoral establishment.
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BibTeX
@article{narvaezherrera2026soil,
title = {{Soil organic carbon stocks, litter decomposition, and soil macrofauna diversity across contrasting land uses within a dual-purpose cattle farm in the Colombian Amazonian foothills}},
author = {Juan Pablo Narváez-Herrera and Joaquín Angulo-Arizala and Wilson Andrés Barragán-Hernández and Henry Mavisoy-Muchavisoy and Adrian Rolando Riascos-Vallejos and Liliana Mahecha-Ledesma},
journal = {PLOS One},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0358469},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0358469},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Soil organic carbon stocks, litter decomposition, and soil macrofauna diversity across contrasting land uses within a dual-purpose cattle farm in the Colombian Amazonian foothills
AU - Juan Pablo Narváez-Herrera
AU - Joaquín Angulo-Arizala
AU - Wilson Andrés Barragán-Hernández
AU - Henry Mavisoy-Muchavisoy
AU - Adrian Rolando Riascos-Vallejos
AU - Liliana Mahecha-Ledesma
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/15
JO - PLOS One
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0358469
UR - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0358469
AB - Silvopastoral systems and other tree-based land uses are increasingly promoted for soil conservation and climate-change mitigation in tropical livestock landscapes. However, their relationships with soil organic carbon (SOC), litter decomposition, and soil macrofauna remain poorly characterized in Amazonian production systems. In this single-farm case study, we assessed SOC distribution and stocks, soil bulk density (ρb), early litter decomposition, and soil macrofaunal communities across five contrasting land-use sites in the Colombian Amazonian foothills. The silvopastoral site had been established 18 months before sampling, allowing characterization of its early-stage soil conditions. Depth-stratified sampling showed pronounced SOC enrichment in the 0–10 cm layer at the silvopastoral site, which also had lower overall ρb than open pasture (1.29 vs. 1.48 g cm−3). However, SOC stocks from the independently sampled 0–30 cm profile were comparable between these sites. Cumulative litter mass loss increased during the 60-day evaluation and varied among forage species and sites, whereas C and N concentrations and C:N showed no statistically supported temporal changes. Macrofaunal organization varied among sites and soil depths; the silvopastoral site had the highest observed Shannon diversity in the 0–10 cm layer (H′ = 1.14), although no site consistently showed the greatest diversity and evenness across all depths. Overall, the silvopastoral site combined favorable surface soil attributes with comparatively high upper-layer macrofaunal diversity. Given the cross-sectional design and single-site representation of each land use, these findings constitute a baseline characterization of site-specific conditions rather than evidence of changes attributable to silvopastoral establishment.
SN - 1932-6203
ER -