Objective: In soil habitats, mesostigmatic mites (Acari: Mesostigmata) are among the most important predators of smallarthropods and nematodes. Methods: A study was carried out during 2009-2010 to identify theirfauna in Khorramabad county, Western Iran. Soil samples were taken from different regions. Mites were extracted by Berlese-Tullgren funnel and cleared in nesbit fluid. Microscopic slides...

Objective: In soil habitats, mesostigmatic mites (Acari: Mesostigmata) are among the most important predators of smallarthropods and nematodes. Methods: A study was carried out during 2009-2010 to identify theirfauna in Khorramabad county, Western Iran. Soil samples were taken from different regions. Mites were extracted by Berlese-Tullgren funnel and cleared in nesbit fluid. Microscopic slides...

Interactions between soil animals and their environment can be described in terms of positive and negative feed-back loops taking place in the build-up and steady-state of soil ecosystems, respectively. The size of animals determines the scale at which they interact with their physical and biotic environment. Nevertheless varying scales at which animals intervene in functional processes is not ...

Soil organisms, as recorded by trace fossils in paleosols of the Willwood Formation, Wyoming, show significant body-size reductions and increased abundances during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM). Paleobotanical, paleopedologic, and oxygen isotope studies indicate high temperatures during the PETM and sharp declines in precipitation compared with late Paleocene estimates. Insect and...

The role of soil fauna in crucial ecosystem services such as nutrient cycling remains poorly quantified, mainly because of the overly reductionistic approach adopted in most experimental studies. Given that increasing nitrogen inputs in various ecosystems influence the structure and functioning of soil microbes and the activity of fauna, we aimed to quantify the role of the entire soil nematode...

The termite fauna of a plantation of Eucaliptus urophylla S.T. Blake (Myrtales: Mytaceae) in Buritis, Minas Gerais, was manually sampled in 12 transects. The assemblage contained 28 species belonging to Termitidae and Rhinotermitidae. This assemblage corresponds to a subset of the native fauna of the cerrado previously present in this region. Compared to the original native fauna, it has a lowe...

Soil animals are considered as important contributors to soil fertility However, there is paucity of such information for harsh climatic conditions. Therefore, the below ground faunal density and frequency have been studied in relation to physicochemical properties of soil in Thar desert. The selected soil systems were Vigna radiata--Cuminum cyminum, grassland, flower garden and Zizyphus maurit...

In order to determine the interactive effect of reseeding, herbicide spraying and ploughing on soil fauna communities, we conducted a grassland reseeding experiment combined with pre-reseed management to examine how with the whole reseeding process affects soil faunal composition. Sampling occasions and exact treatments were as follows: (1) before chemical herbicide spray; (2) after spray but b...

Decomposers provide an essential ecosystem service that contributes to sustainable production in rice ecosystems by driving the release of nutrients from organic crop residues. During a single rice crop cycle we examined the effects of four different crop residue management practices (rice straw or ash of burned straw scattered on the soil surface or incorporated into the soil) on rice straw de...

Organic matter (OM) decomposition and soil fauna feeding activity were integrated as functional endpoints into ecotoxicological tests with intact-soil-core Terrestrial Model Ecosystems (TMEs). Cellulose filter paper served as standardized OM and was either inserted into the top soil or placed on the soil surface for a period of up to 16 weeks. Faunal feeding activity was assessed by the bait-la...