Conservation of invertebrates' biodiversity in soils of the Republic of Moldova

The role of invertebrates and their contribution in functioning of soils is considered. The edaphic fauna of zonal untouched soils in natural ecosystems located in the different zones of the Republic of Moldova has been investigated. Soils of the natural ecosystems are the habitat and the source of the conservation and reproduction of the edaphic fauna. They represent themselves the standards of the biodiversity for soil invertebrates. The database of the invertebrates' diversity of virgin and fallow soils has a practical importance as the natural standard for the operative evaluation of degradation processes and ecological effectiveness of the land management. Agricultural practices with the involvement of areas with multiannual grasses in a crop rotation system created conditions for the improvement of the invertebrate's biodiversity in the chernozem which degraded as a result of a long-term arable use. The use of ryegrass and lucerne mixture during 3-5 years helps to restore the soil invertebrates at the expense of exudates contribution in the soil and roots of perennial crop residues. This procedure has promoted the revival of population of invertebrates. The number of invertebrates on average was 2.5 times higher compared with the control, the total biomass - by 1.6 times. This method is especially effective to restore the Lumbricidae family. Their number increased by 3.0 and biomass - by 2.0 times. The recovery rate of the population of Lumbricidae family reaches of 14.9 ex m-2 per year. Invertebrates' diversity has been improved, the number of invertebrates' families increased from 2-4 to 5-6.