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The Arthropod Population of the Soil Under Elephant Grass in Uganda.
(1948) George, S.; Zoological Laboratory, Cambridge, and the East African Agriculture and Forestry Research Organisation, Nairobi
Six soil samples from elephant-grass leys at Kawanda, Uganda, gave collections representing a population of 87,147 arthropods per sq. metre in the top 12 in. of soil. Six samples from adjacent cultivated ground gave collections representing a population of 26,150 arthropods per sq. metre. These numbers are compared with the population of arthropods found in the soil of grazed pastures in East Africa. The greater population under elephant grass is attributed to the presence of a crumb structure and to the protection afforded by elephant grass against insolation. It is suggested that the nitrogen contained in these soil arthropods, especially which locked up in the chitin and sclerotin of their skeletons, is part of the nitrate that becomes available some weeks or months after elephant-grass leys are cultivated.