Acta Oecologica 113 (2021) 103776 1146-609X/© 2021 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved. Edaphic attributes indicative of edge effect in Semideciduous tropical forest Cristiane Figueira da Silva a , Rodrigo Camara de Souza a , Marcos Gervasio Pereira b, * , Luiz Alberto da Silva Rodrigues Pinto b , Robert Ferreira b , Maria Elizabeth Fernandes Correia c , Carlos Eduardo Gabriel Menezes d , Marcelo Antoniol Fontes c , Tiago Paula da Silva b a Instituto de Florestas, Programa de P´ os-Graduaç˜ ao em Ciˆ encias Ambientais e Florestais, Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro, BR 465, Km 7, 2389-000, Serop´ edica, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil b Instituto de Agronomia, Departamento de Solos, Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro, BR 465, Km 7, 2389-000, Serop´ edica, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil c Embrapa Agrobiologia, BR 465, Km 7, 2389-000, Serop´ edica, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil d IFRJ - Instituto Federal de Educaç˜ ao, Ciˆ encia e Tecnologia do Rio de Janeiro Campus Pinheiral, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil A R T I C L E INFO Keywords: Glomalin Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi Soil microbial biomass Soil enzymatic activity Edaphic fauna ABSTRACT Deforestation of native ecosystems causes microclimatic changes at the edge of the remaining forest fragments. This “edge effect” can modify soil attributes, although there is little information on this. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the edge effect on soil microclimate conditions, chemical, microbiological and arthropod community attributes and their relationship with litter attributes in a fragment of Semideciduous Seasonal Forest, in Piraí, RJ, Brazil. In the middle of the dry period (June/2019), four ranges of distances parallel to each other were established from the edge of the forest fragment: Edge: 0 m; Range 1: 50 m; Range 2: 100 m; and Interior: 160 m. In each range, fve sampling points were established, spaced 10 m apart, where soil samples were collected in the 0–5 cm layer and litter samples. This material was employed to determine microclimatic, chemical and biological (arthropod community and microbiological attributes) attributes of the soil; and litter stock, concentration and content of nutrients. Forest fragmentation altered litter attributes and consequently soil moisture and nutrients, the communities’ attributes of soil arthropods and microorganisms. These modifcations in such aspects of nutrient cycling could compromise the forest functioning and the conservation of local biodiversity. Thus, we suggested the planting of non-pioneer native tree species in distances closest to the forest edge and installing of ecological corridors to connect the forest fragment to other remnants, in order to diminish the edge effect. 1. Introduction The Atlantic Forest is a hot spot for biodiversity conservation, due to high endemism and biodiversity, in addition to the large number of species that are threatened with extinction (Myers et al., 2000). Its remaining area is equivalent to less than 12% of its original total area in the country (Ribeiro et al., 2009). In the state of Rio de Janeiro, it is estimated that only 20% of its territory is represented by fragments of Atlantic Forest (Fundaç˜ ao SOS Mata Atlˆ antica and Inpe, 2002). In gen- eral, these forest remnants are very small, isolated, disconnected from each other, and whose edge is in contact with the anthropic matrix consisting of agricultural and pasture areas (Tabarelli et al., 2005). At the edge of forest fragments, the incidence of solar radiation is considerably higher (Wicklein et al., 2012). Thus, higher values of both air temperature and soil temperature, and lower values of relative hu- midity features the edge, compared to the interior of forest fragments (Lima-Ribeiro, 2008). This “edge effect” favors the signifcant mortality of young and adult arboreal individuals (Malchow et al., 2006) and the predominance of pioneer forest species (Lima-Ribeiro, 2008), which results in a decrease in uniformity (Lippok et al., 2014) and diversity (Terra et al., 2018) of the plant community. Consequently, there are changes in the edge-interior gradient of forest fragments, with regard to biodiversity and interactions between species (Laurance et al., 2011), plant composition and richness (Rabelo et al., 2015), litter production and accumulation (Portela and Santos, 2007; Laurance and Vasconcelos, 2009; Machado et al., 2018). This pattern is also observed for soil chemical attributes (Schr¨ oder and Fleig, 2017; Terra et al., 2018; Bar- reto-Garcia et al., 2019) and soil biological attributes (Pereira et al., * Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: cfgueirasilva@yahoo.com.br (C. Figueira da Silva), rcamara73@gmail.com (R. Camara de Souza), mgervasiopereira01@gmail.com (M.G. Pereira), l_arodrigues@yahoo.com.br (L.A. da Silva Rodrigues Pinto), feer.robert@gmail.com (R. Ferreira), correia@embrapa.br (M.E. Fernandes Correia), carlos.menezes@ifrj.edu.br (C.E. Gabriel Menezes), marcelo.fontes@embrapa.br (M.A. Fontes), tiago8paula6@hotmail.com (T. Paula da Silva). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Acta Oecologica journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/actoec https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actao.2021.103776 Received 28 August 2020; Received in revised form 17 August 2021; Accepted 21 August 2021