Recovery Successions of Soil Microfauna in Oil-Polluted Ecosystems of the European Subarctic

The dependence of recovery of the soil zoocoenosis on succession of the plant community after soil remediation was examined. An increase in the population density of invertebrates was registered in the following phytocoenotic succession on the “agrochemical techniques” experimental site: no plants—low projective cover—high projective cover (5100 ± 1340, 12 400 ± 2823, and 22 040 ± 3008 ind./m 2 , respectively). Various trends in the microarthropod population density were identified: a reduction of the parameter values for dipterous larvae and mesostigmatic mites over time and, conversely, an increase in the population densities of collembolans and oribatid mites; these trends determine the dynamics of the grouping structure and changes in the dominant taxa. Demutation of the zoocoenosis has been divided into three stages; taxonomic groups of microarthropods acting as biomarkers of succession stages were identified: larvae of Diptera and mesostigmatic mites at the first stage, collembola at the second stage, and oribatid mites at the third stage.