INVERTEBRATES AS BIOINDICATORS OF SOIL USE

We face an increasing demand from administrative, technical and environmental authorities for bioindicators. Animals, plants and community patterns, which register quantitative and qualitative environmental changes need to be monitored. This can range from simple chemical and physical sampling to quantifying the patterns of animal and plant communities. These techniques for analysing soil communities were first developed for aquatic systems. Protozoans, earthworms, woodlice, myriapods, Acari, springtails and other groups of invertebrates seem to respond to chemical residues and other environmental stresses in many different ways. Although a rich literature on interactions is available, only limited information exists at the community level and little is known of the food chain level in the soil. Research is needed to find appropriate patterns which could model different situations.