Abstract
Two crop production systems, which differ on tillage and pesticides, were compared for biodiversity of soil microarthropod communities. A biodiversity index, which integrates different structure and density parameters (abundance, taxonomic richness, taxonomic diversity, coenotic diversity) was used. Results showed a greater biodiversity in minimum tillage systems compared to deep tillage systems. Pesticides seemed to be only a second order factor of variance on microarthropod biodiversity.