Eficiencia del embudo Berlese-Tullgren para extracción de artrópodos edáficos en suelos argiudoles típicos de la provincia de Buenos Aires

the efficiency of the berlese-tullgren funnel as a method for soil arthropod extraction from typical argiudol soils in buenos aires province (argentina) was evaluated. fifty-four samples were taken from agricultural, cattle grazing, and naturalized prairie soils in navarro and chivilcoy sites on two different occasions: may and august, 2009. on each date, 27 soil samples were taken from randomly selected 25 x 25 square samples 5 cm in depth. the samples were collected in 150 cm3 containers. the berlese-tullgren funnel method was then applied to each sample, followed by the flotation method with magnesium sulphate, to detect and quantify the information that is lost when only the berlese method is used. the taxonomic groups found were acari (oribatida, prostigmata, and mesostigmata), collembola, diptera, and hymenoptera. the non-parametric wilcoxon test and a logistic regression were performed on the data. significant differences were detected between methods for all the biological groups. even though both methods extract the same taxa, the flotation method is more efficient in extracting acari and collembola, while the berlese method is more efficient in retrieving diptera and hymenoptera.