EFFECT OF LAND CULTIVATION IN DRY SAVANNA S OF EQUATORIAL AFRICA ON THE ANIMAL POPULATION OF THE SOIL

A comparative study of the soil animal population was carried out in t he dry, savana and agrocoenoses of the Abyssininan Highlands (Ethiopia ). Unlike the more humid savanna of the West Africa, the total abundan ce and biomass of mesofauna in the Abyssinian mountain savanna are fiv e- to six-fold lower. The percentage of saprophages in the soil popula tion is also reduced as compared with the West African savanna: 69% of the total biomass. Land cultivation leads to substantial reduction an d,impoverishment of the soil animal population, first of all useful so il builders.