Development of soil nematode communities on coal-mining dumps in two different landscapes and reclamation practices

Soil nematodes were studied in two chronosequences of plots from open-cast coal-mining dumps near Cottbus (Germany, acidic tertiary sandy spoils afforested with pines) and near Sokolov (Czech Republic, alkaline tertiary clays afforested with alder). Nematodes at Sokolov developed more abundant and diverse communities with a high proportion of omnivores and plant parasites than those at Cottbus. The pH and spoil texture, amount of precipitation, litter accumulation and colonisation of dumps by plants and soil biota were probably important factors for different development of nematode assemblages in the regions compared.