Amazonian forest fragments and secondgrowth forests often differ substantially from undisturbed forests in their microclimate, plant-species composition, and soil fauna. To determine if these changes could affect litter decomposition, we quantified the mass loss of two contrasting leaf-litter mixtures, in the presence or absence of soil macroinvertebrates, and in three forest habitats. Leaf-lit...

This study aimed at relating the abundance and diversity of invertebrate communities of urban soils to chemical and physical soil characteristics and to identify the taxa most sensitive or tolerant to soil stressors. The invertebrate community of five urban soils in Naples, Italy, was sampled. To assess soil quality invertebrate community indices (Shannon, Simpson, Menhinick and Pielou indices)...

While we frequently observe that increasing species richness within a trophic level can increase the rates of predation or herbivory on lower trophic levels, the general impacts of prey diversity on consumption rates by their predators or herbivores remains unclear. Here we report the results of two field experiments that examined how subcanopy sessile species richness affects rates of consumpt...

Khuzestan coastal waters have high fisheries potential and ecological importance. Since different sources of stress exist in this area, the present study was conducted to evaluate ecological quality and to determine health status in Khuzestan coastal sediments based on benthic communities and their biological parameters. Seasonal sampling was done from 20 creeks of Khur-e-Mussa area in Khuzesta...

several studies suggest that invertebrate abundance and richness are disrupted and reset at confluences. thus, junctions contribute disproportionately to the overall aquatic biodiversity of the river. in general terms, authors have reported high abundance and diversity due to the major physical heterogeneity at junctions. however, data are still scarce and uncertainties are plentiful.the impact...

This study examined the effects of micro-scale, site and 19 and 21 years of experimental warming on Collembola in three contrasting alpine subarctic plant communities (poor heath, rich meadow, wet meadow). Unexpectedly, experimental long-term warming had no significant effect on species richness, effective number of species, total abundance or abundance of any Collembola species. There were mic...

Plant diversity and vegetation distribution in an area are related to the soil physical and chemical properties. The knowledge of relationships between species diversityand soil parameteris essential for sustainable ecosystem management. This study was conducted to investigate the relationships between soil factors and species diversity indices in the protected rangelands of Lashgardar, Malayer...

Several bromeliads species store water and organic substrates, allowing the establishment of phytotelmata and associated fauna on their leaves. In this study, we sampled 70 individuals of Vriesea sp. (Carrière) (Bromeliaceae), in rupestrian fields in the Serra de Ouro Branco-MG, Brazil. The relationships between invertebrate species richness and abundance and size of bromeliads were tested usin...