- Recovery and Colonization at Post-mining Sites by the Soil Microfauna

Microfauna Ladislav Háněl,1,* Miloslav Devetter1 and Sina M. Adl2

The soil microfauna consists of hydrobiont (living in soil pores fi lled with water or on moist surfaces) protists and animals with a body width of less than 0.2 mm (Lavelle and Spain 2001). The microfauna along with other soil organisms colonize and establish abundant populations during primary succession towards more established communities. Under optimum conditions, the generation time of fast growing bacterivores, who exert grazing pressure on microbial populations, ranges from several hours in fl agellates (Foissner 1999) to several days in rotifers and nematodes (King 1969, Vancoppenolle et al. 1999). Both bottom-up and top-down control of ecosystem processes can therefore start at very early stages of primary succession at post-mining sites (Moore and de Ruiter 2000).