The soil-litter system is a natural habitat for a great variety of organisms that differ in size and metabolism and are responsible for numerous functions. The study of groups of organism in the soil-litter system allows not only to make inferences on the functionality of these organisms, but also is a simple indication of the ecological complexity in these communities. Our study aimed at characterizing the distribution of groups of organism in soil and litter compartments in two seasons of the year (wet summer and dry winter) under five different vegetation covers (eucalyptus, non-preserved forest, preserved forest, regenerating forest ('capoeira'), and pasture) in the northern Fluminense region (RJ, Brazil). Both soil and litter under the natural forest covers, in particular the preserved and non- preserved forest, generally showed higher organism density and abundance values than eucalyptus and pasture for in both collecting seasons. In general, there was no preference of organism groups for soil or litter. The organisms density and abundance, Shannon's index and Pielou's index also varied according to the season of the year and the differences among vegetation covers were more distinct in the summer than in the winter season. The Pielou's index was the most stable variable and, therefore, the most appropriate to study the dissimilarities among the vegetation covers in terms of distribution of groups of organisms.
soil fauna; diversity; forest soils; seasonal
