| Abstrakt: |
Abstract: The soil nematode fauna at 54 coal post-mining sites and six natural sites in southern Illinois was studied in November 2009. The first set of samples was collected in ca. 30-year-old plantations of pine, sweet gum and white oak at post-mining sites either reclaimed by spreading topsoil or left untreated before planting trees. The second set of samples was collected in ca. 70-year-old plantations of pine and white oak and poplar dominated natural successions. The third set of samples was collected in remnants of a natural prairie and natural forests, and served as reference sites. In total 107 genera and 171species and morpho-species were identified at these sites. The mean numbers of species + morpho-species and genera recorded at 30-year-old forest sites were 29.9 and 24.3, at 70-year-old forest sites 39.4 and 31.9 and in natural forests (older than 100 years) 57.3 and 45.3, respectively. The positive association of nematode richness with site age is statistically significant. Cluster analyses indicates that the reclamation of post-mining sites by spreading topsoil had a noticeable effect on the generic composition of nematode faunas although the generic richness itself did not differ from that at sites not reclaimed. Nematode faunas at sites that were spread with topsoil were similar to that of natural prairie and developed to some extent in their own way, i.e. in a somewhat different direction than natural forest faunas. Non-topsoil sites had nematode faunas more similar to that in older natural successions and tree plantations, which were similar to natural nematode forest faunas, which are marked by a high richness of species and genera. |
