Food resources and diets of soil animals in a small area of Scots pine litter

The fauna inhabiting a small area (ca. 5 cm  5 cm) were investigated in a Scots pine stand. After microstratification of the litter layers in the field and fixation in 95% ethyl alcohol, invertebrates, mainly mesofauna, were sorted under a dissecting microscope and mounted or dissected in order to study their intestinal guts. Faeces were mounted or sectioned to obtain information about the activity of other invertebrate groups not represented in the sample and to follow the fate of plant and microbial material after defaecation occurred. Plant material, mainly from moss, bracken, pine needles and bark, was extensively consumed by enchytraeid and lumbricid worms, sciarid larvae and phthiracarid mites. Fungal material was ingested by all groups, either in combination with plant material or alone (camisiid and oppiid mites, some species of Collembola, sciarid and chironomid larvae). Isotomid springtails and chironomid larvae appeared to consume faecal material. The choice and the degree of comminution and digestion of the material differed greatly from one group to another, but without any indication of resource sharing.