KOMUNITAS MIKROARTHROPODA TANAHPADA LAHAN PENGGEMBALAAN SAPI (Bos indicus L.)

This study on soil microarthopod community is conducted in the lands for cattle grazing in Tamanwinangun Village, Kebumen Regency, Central Java. In the study, three locations for sampling are selected. The sampling is done eight times from May to August 2010 two times a week, each with twelve repetitions. The locations are: a land with no use for cattle grazing as control land, a land used for cattle grazing for three months and left for four months, and a land used for cattle grazing for eight months and left for one month. Soil microarthropods are collected by using a soil auger and extracted by Tullgren funnel. Microarthropods collected are identified in ecological laboratory and analyzed with two-dimension ordinance. The size of body length is measured using micrometer. Physical parameter and chemical environment are analyzed by using ANOVA. Result of the study indicates that cattle grazing had the effect of increasing the richness and stability of soil microarthropod community. However, the cattle grazing activities could reduce the diversity of microarthropod community. The land used for cattle grazing for three months had the highest level of richness and stability of the microarthropod community, while that with no use for cattle grazing had the highest level of diversity of microarthropod community. The land used for cattle grazing for three months and left for four months had the highest level of richness and stability of microarthropod community. The phenomenon was not only caused by the effect of cattle grazing activities and the duration of land use for cattle grazing, but also by interactions of various internal and external factors as well as physical and chemical environment factors. Onychiuridaes with smaller size were more found in the land used for cattle grazing for eight months and left for one month. The sizes of Isotomidae showed the unobvious difference of Isotomidae with big and small sizes. Soil capacity resulted from cow throttles could reduce the number of microarthropod community with bigger size and the accumulation of cow feces could increase the richness and stability of soil micro-arthropod community.