DISTRIBUCIÓN ESPACIAL, COMPOSICIÓN Y DENSIDAD DE EDAFOFAUNA EN HOJARASCA DE BOSQUE Y CAFETAL (MONTENEGRO, COLOMBIA) Spatial Distribution, Composition and Density of the Leaflitter Edaphofauna in Forest and Coffee Plantation (Montenegro,Colombia)

Changes in composition, density and spatial distribution on the litter edaphic fauna between two land uses (a coffee plantation and a tropical Andean forest) were established, in order to understand the soil use effects. Also, the relationships between the biotic variables and some litter features were evaluated. Superficial litter samples were collected during dry season. The edaphic fauna was extracted manually and with modified Berlese funnels; it was identified up to the lower taxonomic level and classified in functional groups. Differences in fauna composition were observed between the two land uses. Composition similarity was lower than 50 % for almost all functional groups found, but total density did not differ between the land uses. In general, there was a high variation in density among samples resulting in higher coefficients of variation for different taxonomic groups and consequently low detectability of spatial pattern. However a spatial pattern was detected only for Coleoptera, Diptera larvae and litter biomass in the coffee plantation. The structure in forest was more difficult to detect, due to the smaller patches on it. The variance of abundance was