The Portuguese northern forests are often and severely affected by wildfires during the Summer season. These occurrences significantly affect and negatively impact all ecosystems, namely soil, fauna and flora. In order to reduce the occurrences of natural wildfires, some measures to control the availability of fuel mass are regularly implemented. Those preventive actions concern mainly prescrib...

The Pantanal is a biodiversity hotspot comprised of a mosaic of landforms that differ in vegetative assemblages and flooding dynamics. Tree islands provide refuge for terrestrial fauna during the flooding period and are particularly important to the regional ecosystem structure. Little soil CO₂ research has been conducted in this region. We evaluated soil CO₂ dynamics in relation to primary con...

The distribution of Clostridium botulinum in the natural environments of Denmark, The Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland, and Bangladesh was examined. A total of 684 samples were tested. Type E was found in 90% of samples from the aquatic environment of Denmark, including sediments from young artificial lakes, and in 86% of samples from the marine environment of Greenland. Type E was not found i...

Tidal flat, a transition zone between the ocean and land, forms a unique ecosystem, providing the habitat for various specious of fauna and flora, which is very important in purifying pollutants discharged from land and in providing marine products such as oysters and many kinds of shellfishes [1]. Thus, monitoring and mapping of tidal flat is urgently needed for sustainable managements and the...

New Zealand Journal of Ecology (1998) 22(2): 189-196 ©New Zealand Ecological Society limitation on the sustainability of pastoral land use in New Zealand and this issue has been heightened by recent resource management legislation (Blaschke et al., 1992). In contrast, there have been few investigations on the effects of forest removal on the New Zealand soil fauna (Yeates, 1991). Contraction in...

The ant diversity observed in stomach contents of fossorial reptiles was compared to the subterranean ant richness collected using traditional and modern techniques of ant collections. We analyzed the alimentary tract of 64 specimens of amphisbaenians (4 Amphisbaena alba, 10 A. fuliginosa, 25 A. vermicularis, and 25 Leposternon infraorbitale) collected during the fauna rescue for the constructi...

The soil fauna plays an important function over the processes of organic matter decomposition, nutrient cycling, ground aeration and fertility. Thus, studies on the composition and structure of such communities are important, considering moreover the lack of information in different regions of Brazil and mainly related to the state of Piauí. This study aimed to evaluate the density and diversit...

High-altitude and alpine areas are predicted to experience rapid and substantial increases in future temperature, which may have serious impacts on soil carbon, nutrient and soil fauna. Here we report the impact of 20 years of experimental warming on soil properties and soil mites in three contrasting plant communities in alpine/subarctic Sweden. Long-term warming decreased juvenile oribatid mi...

Fusarium graminearum is a plant-pathogenic fungus that causes the devastating disease “Fusarium head blight” (FHB) in cereal crops such as wheat (Triticum aestivum). It also contaminates grains with mycotoxins, including deoxynivalenol (DON), which turn toxic to humans and animals. This overwinters crop residues left field. The fate of mycotoxins these soil their ecological role are still unexp...