Soil Analysis

Soil is an aggregate of elements, minerals and organic matter. The content of the soil can vary greatly
between one site and another. Soil is made up of a variety of different sized partciles. If a soil is made up
of mainly small particle. A soil test commonly refers to the analysis of a soil sample to determine
nutrient content, composition, and other characteristics such as the acidity or pH level. In some studies,
soil arthropods have been used as indicators of soil quality in soils and to compare different
management systems, as they are regulated by anthropogenic impacts.

pH

It measures the available hydrogen ions in a solution,. and describes the relative level of acidity or
alakalinity measured on a scale of 1 (acidic) to 14 (basic), with 7.0 as neutral. The pH scale is logarithmic,
with 14 gradiations. Each increment of 1.0 actually represents a difference of ten times either more
basic (alkaline) or acidic (i.e., 6.0 is ten times more acidic than 7.0). Acid soils are often called "sour" soils
and basic soils are often called "sweet soils"

Presence of Nitrogen, Potassium and Phosphorus

Presence of Organic Matter

Soil organic matter (SOM) is the organic matter component of soil, consisting of plant and animal
residues at various stages of decomposition, cells and tissues of soil organisms, and substances
synthesized by soil organisms. SOM exerts numerous positive effects on soil physical and chemical
properties, as well as the soil’s capacity to provide regulatory ecosystem services.Particularly, the
presence of SOM is regarded as being critical for soil function and soil quality.

Soil organic matter is a the glue that helps provide structure to all smaller particles, helps prevent
compaction, and can lead to an increase in root growth. As soil organic matter and therefore soil
structure increase, soil is capable of absorbing water faster, retaining more water, and resisting erosion
by wind and rain.

METHODOLOGY

For soil analysis, the following materials will be used: Erlenmeyer Flask, volumetric flaks, pipettes, and
stirring rod. Reagents for soil analysis were 1N potassium dichormate, sulfuric acid, 5N ferrous
ammonium sulfate and dipheylamine indicator for the determination of the organic matter;
concentrated and 0.1 sulfuric acid, sulfuric salicylic acid, 40% sodium hydroxide, 2% Boric Acid, mixed
indicator (methyl red and bromcresol green) for the determination of Nitrogen; concentrated and 0.1 N
sulfuric acid, and standard Potassium solution, extracting soultion, Acid molybdate stock solution-
Reagent A, and Reagent B (2.639 grams of ascorbic acid was dissolved in 500 mL of Reagent A), and
stock standard phosphorus solution for phosphorus determination
Collecting nets will beused to collect fast- moving, waterborne and potentially venomous species and
forceps for minute species. Glass vials and plastic canisters with 80% ethanol will be used for the
temporary storage of these specimens. Alcohol thermometer will be used for measuring ambient and
soil temperature. A quadrat measuring 1m2 with graduation of 1dm per grid will be used in sampling
stations. A 50m rope marked every meter will be used to measure the distance and a retractable tape
measure for measuring length less than one meter. Soil sample collected will be stored using Reynolds
Ziplock Bag. Analysis of soil quality will be done in the Bureau of Soil for the test of NPK and in
laboratory for the test of the presence of organic matter. Identification of the collected species will be
done in the National Museum.

Selection of Sampling Site

The study will be conducted at the Beach Forest Ecosystem in Brgy. Luyahan Lian Batangas on April,
June, August and October. Sampling stations will be randomly selected using a casio fx- 991MS scientific
calculator using the Ran# function multiplies by the length of the zone, the value will be rounded to the
nearest ones. The results value will indicate the distance of the sampling site from the start of each
zone.

Soil Analysis

The collected soil samples will undego soil analysis focusing on the determination of pH, ambient and
soil temperature, presence of organic matter, present of major nutrients particularly nitrogen,
phosphorus, and potassium and organic matter. Triplicates will be performed for each parameters in the
analysis of soil

Collection of Arthopods by Line Transect

Determination of the Presence of Organic Matter

Walkey-Black Method will be used for the determination of the presence of organic matter in the soil.
Into 500 mL beaker, one gram of the soil sample will be mixed with 10 mL potassium dichromate and 20
mL concentrated sulfuric acid. This will be stirred thoruoughly and will be set aside for 30 minutes. Two
hundred mL of distilled water and 10 mL of concentrated phosphoric acid will be added and will be set
aside for cooling. Then, 10-15 drops of diphenyldiamine indicator will be added to the solution. This
solution will be titrated with 5N ferrous ammonium sulfate, until the color changed from violet- blue to
green. A blank sample (without soil) will be prepared and will be treated with the same way as the soil
suspension.

Percentage of organic matter in soil

M=

% oxidizable organic carbon (w/w)=

% total organic Carbon (w/w)= 1.334 X % oxidizable organic carbon

%organic matter= 1.724 X %Total Organic Carbon

Where: M= molarity of ferrous ammonium sulfate (FAS)

Vblank= vol. of the FAS needed to titrate the blank (mL)

Vsample= volume of the FAS needed to titrate the samplem (mL)

Wt= weight of the air- dry soil (g)

0.3= 3 X10-3 X 100, where 3 is the equivalent weight of C.

Nitrogen

For the digestion of nitrate- free sample, one gram of soil sample will be weighed in triplicate. Two
grams of salt mixture ( Mixt7ure of 100 g K2SO4, 10 g of CuSO4 . 5H20 and 1 g of Se or 1.4 g of SeO3) and 5
mL conc. H2SO4 will be added to the soil sample. The solution will be mixed and will be digested until the
clear solution will be obtained. The clear soultion will be set aside for cooling. After cooling, the clear
solution will be diluted to 50 mL distilled water.

For samples containing nitrates, one gram of soil sample will be weighed in triplicate. Five mL of H2SO4 -
salicylic acid mixture (one gram of salicylic acid + 30 mL of conc. H2SO4) will be added to the soil sample.
The mixture will be set aside for 30 minutes with occasional shaking. Two grams of Na2S2O3 . 5 H2O will
be added and this will be heated until foaming abates. The digestion will be continued for five minutes,
and will be set aside for cooling. When the mixture cool down, two grams of the salt mixture will be
added and digestion and will be continued until a clear solution is obtain. The clear soultion will be
diluted with 50mL distilled water.

In distillation process, 20 mL of aliquot portion of nitrae- free sample solution will be distilled and 20 mL
of 40% NaOH will be added carefully but fast for the prevention of the escape of NH3. Distillated will be
collected using a receiver containg 10mL of 10% Boric Acid solution, and 0.5 mL of mixed indicator
(0.075 g of bromocresol green and 0.005 g of methyl red dissolved in 100 mL 95% ethanol). The distillate
sample will be titrated with 0.01 N H2SO4.

Computation:

%N=
Where:

S= mL of H2SO4 used in the sample

B= mL of H2SO4 used as blank

N= normality of H2SO4

A= weight of the soil sample

D.F.= dilution factor

mcf= moisture correction factor

Phosphorus

Olsen method will be used to determine the amount of phosphorus in soil. Reagents for this methods
are extracting solution (0.5 N NaHCO3, pH= 8.5, 450 grams of sodium bicarbonate will be dissolved in
distilled water and volume to 10L. The pH will be adjusted to 8.5 using 50% NaOH); Acid molybdate
stock solution- Reagent A (60 grams of ammonium molybdate in 1250 mL distilled water. Then, 1.455 g
of potassium antimony tartrate will be dissolved in 500 mL distilled water. Both solutions will be added
to 500 mL 5N H2SO4, will be mixed and diluted to 10 L with distilled water. Solution will be stored in
pyrex glass bottle in a dark, cool place); Reagent B (2.639 grams of ascorbic acid will be dissolved in 500
m L Reagent A. This will be prepared each day since it cannot be kept for more than 24 hours. ); Stock
standard phosphorus solution (0.2927 g dried reagent grade KH2PO4 will be dissolved in 25 mL distilled
water. It will be diluted to 1L volume with extracting solution.

Two grams of the soil sample and 40 mL of extracting solution will be placed in a 100 mL bottle. The
bottle will be covered and will be shaken for 30 minutes using a stirring rod.

The extract will be filtered using Whatman No. 2 filter paper into a 125 mL Erlenmeyer Flask. The
mixture will be filtered until a clear solution is obtain. Five mL of the filtrate will be transferred into 50
mL Erlenmeyer Flask, 15 mL distilled water and 5 mL of Reagent B will be added to the mixture with
continous mixing.

The solution will be set aside for 10 minutes and will be read in calorimetric set at 882 wavelength. A
standard curve will be prepared by pipetting 5 mL of aliquot of each of the working standards,
developing color and reading intensity in this same manner as with the soil extracts.

ppm concentration in filtared will be converted to the concentration is the soil.

Computation

ppm of P in soil= ppm P in filtrate X 20X mcf

Potassium

Five grams of the soil sample will be mixed with 12.5 mL distilled wtaer and five mL of H2SO4 will be
added while stirring and will be set aside for 30 minutes. The mixture will be filtered and will be washed
with 0.1 N H2SO4 and will be brought to volume in 50 mL volumetric flask. Flame photometer will be
used to read the % transmission of the solution.

Calculation:

ppm K in soil= ppm K in solution X 10

Statistical Analysis

Statistical Treatment was applied to test the diversity index of the Arthropods in the beach Forest using
Shannon- Wiener Index, Simpson Diversity index and Sorensen Similarity Index.

The study comparatively assessed the impacts of farm activities on the

abundance and diversity of soil arthropods and soil physico-chemical
parameters of the Practical Year Training Programme (PYTP) farmlands,
University of Ibadan, South Western Nigeria. Soil arthropods were collected
from September, 2010 to February, 2011 in five sampling sites of PYTP
farmlands using BerleseTullgren Extraction method. Soil physico-chemical
parameters were determined by standard procedures. A total of 19 orders of
soil arthropods were obtained. Acari and Collembola accounted for the most
abundant order while the Neuropterans were the least in abundance.Sites 1
and 4 (control) recorded the highest diversity (Shannon Wiener index) values
of 1.88 and 1.96 respectively while site 5 recorded the highest equitability
value. The ANOVA result showed no significant difference in the values of
the different parameters across the sites (P>0.05). Chi-square test showed a
significant association between the number of soil arthropods and the
parameters of the five sampling sites. Pearson’s correlation coefficient (r)
revealed a positive significant relationship between soil moisture content and
the Collembolans and a negative significant relationship with Coleopterans.
This study revealed a reduction in the abundance and diversity of soil
arthropods in the PYTP farmlands due to consistent agricultural activities that
impact the environment. Sustainable farming practices should be adopted so
as to ameliorate the impact of cultivation practices on soil organisms and
restore the integrity of the soil ecosystem.
Rota et al., investigated the soil arthropod communities of urban and suburban holm oak
(Quercus ilex L.) stands in a small (Siena) and a large Italian city (Naples) and tested whether the
abundance and diversity of higher arthropod taxa are affected by the biotic and abiotic conditions
of urban forest soils, including pollution. Acarina and Collembola were the dominant taxa in
both cities. In Siena the total number of arthropod individuals collected in the samples was over
1/3 greater than in Naples, but all diversity indices scored higher in Naples than in Siena,
probably in response to the higher heterogeneity of microclimatic and pedological conditions
found in Naples study area. Oribatids resulted twice more abundant in Siena and so were the
total mites with respect to Collembola. While “taxonomic richness” per site increased with
distance from road traffic, entropy and evenness indices scored higher at the two ends of the
impact gradient in both cities. The overall variation in basic pedological and microbiological soil
parameters positively correlated with the total abundance of arthropods, and negatively
correlated with their taxonomic richness. At the resolution employed, no significant relation
emerged between anthropogenic factors, such as traffic load and soil pollution, and the arthropod
fauna density and variety. These results are consistent with conclusions drawn from a previous
study on the enchytraeid fauna examined at species level, which is remarkable considering the
different taxonomic resolutions of the two studies. CCA results suggest that the higher
abundance of Oribatid mites, Protura and Thysanura and the lower abundance of Diplopoda and
Symphyla in Siena could depend on a higher fungi/bacteria ratio. This observation can be
interpreted in terms of differences in fungi and bacteria between the two cities: Siena is shifted
towards the fungal decomposition channel, which supports taxa such as oribatid mites, while
Naples is shifted towards the bacterial channel, which supportschiefly detritivorous groups, such
as diplopods.

Santos (2016) et al., said that Soil arthropod biodiversity is an indicator of soil quality and can be studied using pitfall trapping.
In this research, olive grove edaphic fauna was assessed at different sampling dates by comparing two different diameters (7 and
9 cm) and three different contents empty, water and preservative) of pitfall traps in order to determine which type of pitfall trap is
more efficient. Considering all pitfall trap types and sampling times, a total of 12,937 individual edaphic arthropods belonging to
11 taxa were recovered. Smaller traps with preservative collected significantly more individuals than the other pitfalls tested.
Larger and empty traps collected significantly more spiders and traps with preservative collected more beetles. Smaller and
empty traps collected fewer individuals than the other trap types. Both Shannon’s diversity and Pielou’s evenness indexes were
higher in the larger and empty traps and richness was higher in the smaller traps filled with water. The study of myrmecocenosis
was emphasised because olive grove soil fauna was numerically dominated by Formicidae (56.6% of all organisms captured)
belonging to 12 genera and 24 species; Tapinoma nigerrimum, Messor barbarus, Cataglyphis hispanicus, Tetramorium semilaeve,
Cataglyphis ibericus, Messor bouvieri and Camponotus cruentatus were the most abundant ant species. Traps with preservative
reached the highest accumulation of species for a small number of pitfalls when compared with the other pitfalls studied and a
sampling effort of 20 samples is apparently sufficient to sample the greater part of the ant species of the olive grove. From this
study, it s

Lincoln, David E. , Williams, Ray S.

The extent and manner of effects on biodiversity resulting from globally changing conditions, such as
elevated CO2, are not understood, but may be of substantial magnitude. Terrestrial arthropods are
widely recognized to constitute the majority of terrestrial species. For example, soil arthropods in
temperate forests are a highly diverse assemblage with up to 1000 species per m2 and over 3,400 soil
and canopy arthropod species occur at a single site in Oregon. Further, arthropod herbivores,
detritivores and predators, and their abundances, are important components in the biotic interactions
and the carbon and nutrient dynamics of ecosystems. The present study will experimentally examine the
presence and abundance of soil arthropods in the context of forest plots under ambient and elevated
CO2 conditions. The goals of this study are to understand the responses of species diversity to globally
increasing carbon dioxide and to understand how elevated CO2 environments may alter the processes
underlying the trophic structure and function of forest ecosystems.

Convincing evidence of the relative roles of bottom-up and top-down controls of food webs using
experimental ecosystems has been obtained from aquatic habitats, but terrestrial ecosystems,
particularly trophic webs dominated by arthropods, have proven to be more recalcitrant in yielding data.
Large plant-mediated changes are predicted for grazing and detrital food webs under elevated carbon
dioxide. One of the major responses of plants derives from the increased photosynthetic rate under
elevated CO2 leading to an elevation of leaf carbohydrate content and a depression of leaf nitrogen
content, resulting in an increase in the leaf carbon:nitrogen ratio and apparently also an increased
lignin:N ratio. These effects have been identified as a primary means by which elevated CO2 effects may
be transmitted from plants to other trophic levels. Thus, the quality of the food supply (bottom-up
variable) for litter decomposing biota is very likely to be changed by the elevated CO2 conditions which
are projected to occur within 50-75 years.