Nematode diversity in Dutch soils, from Rio to a biological indicator for soil quality

摘要: Within the framework of the development of an indicator for the ecological quality of soil, the composition of fauna in Dutch soils is being determined in relation to abiotic conditions and land use type. One of the species groups being investigated is that of the nematodes. This has resulted so far in a database with data derived from more than 300 sites. In this contribution, the set-up of the indicator system and the monitoring activities are described, and some results of the survey are shown. It can be seen that there is enough discriminative power to use the composition of the communities within the indicator to discriminate between different combinations of land use and soil type. It is shown that an increase in agricultural intensity results in a decrease of species numbers and abundance of nematodes. Furthermore, the use of data derived for prognostic applications is demonstrated.