In the litter-soil compartment, soil fauna plays an important role in nutrient availability for plants, since it regulates the microbial community involved with organic matter decomposition and fragmentation. The aim of this study was to evaluate the richness and abundance of soil fauna as well as its vertical distribution on a periodically flooded sandbank area ("restinga") in Marambaia Island - RJ, in two season (summer -rainy and winter- dry). Litter and soil was sampled (0-5 cm), from which fauna was extracted by Berlese-Tüllgren extractors. An increase in the abundance of soil fauna was observed from the dry to the rainy season, while the abundance of taxonomic groups was not modified. In both seasons, the most frequent groups were Formicidae and Collembola. Regarding the vertical distribution, the soil fauna preferred litter in the rainy and soil in the dry period. The microphagy and saprophagy represented the main forms of resource use, followed by predation, suggesting a sound structure of the habitat in the ecosystem. Moreover, the occurrence of groups that are found in undisturbed environments only, indicated that the ecosystem Restinga on the Island of Marambaia, at the time of evaluation (2002), was little or not degraded and well- conserved.
litter; soil; invertebrates
