Résumé
Amazonian rainforests once thought to hold an innate pristine wilderness,
are increasingly known to have been densely inhabited by populations
showing a diverse and complex cultural background prior to European
arrival. To what extent these societies impacted their landscape is
unclear. Amazonian Dark Earths (ADEs) are fertile soils found throughout
the Amazon Basin, created by pre-Columbian societies as a result of more
sedentary habits. Much is known of the chemistry of these soils, yet their
zoology has been neglected. Hence, we characterised soil macroinvertebrate
communities and activity in these soils at nine archaeological sites and
adjacent reference soils in three Amazonian regions, totaling eighteen
sampling sites. Furthermore, we characterized various soil chemical and
physical properties associated with soil fertility. The current dataset
contains data on soil macroinvertebrate biodiversity (26 taxa), with a
special focus on termites, earthworms and ants. It also contains data on
soil macromorphology, bulk density and porosity, soil carbon,
nitrogen, macro and micronutrients, magnetic susceptibility
and apparent electrical conductivity. The results show similar
overall macrofauna morphospecies richness in ADE and adjacent
soils, but distinct communities in each soil type. They also show
higher soil fauna activity in ADEs when compared to adjacent
reference soils, associated with greater earthworm populations.
Finally, they also confirm the well-known high soil fertility in ADEs
compared with adjacent soils. Land use was an important determinant of
both macrofauna biodiversity and soil fertility. These findings support
the idea that humans have built and sustained a contrasting high fertility
ecosystem that persisted until our days, altering biodiversity
distribution patterns in Amazonia.