Spiders are one of the most abundant predator groups and occur in a wide range of terrestrial ecosystems. Spiders are of great value to human societies as they provide important ecosystem services such as supressing agricultural and forestry pests. They are also important ...
Mosses and lichens are important components of the ground vegetation in Central European forests. Particularly in semi-shady woods of Scots pine and oak, forest mosses and lichens of the genus Cladonia cover large ground surfaces and are very dominant in the ...
Nutrient-poor raw soils are extreme locations. The topmost millimetres of these soils are colonised by stress-tolerant, alternately moist organisms that are adapted to drought and nutrient-poor conditions. These so-called biological soil crusts stick together the soil particles ...