The soil fauna, for its diversity and magnitude of the tasks that it carries out in the soil environment, may reflect the state of the ecosystem functioning. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the activity, the structural composition and the diversity of soil fauna community in different successional stages of Atlantic forest, in Pinheiral, RJ state. Thus, three areas of lower montane semi-deciduous forest in different succession stages were studied: Forest in initial stage (FIS), Forest in intermediate stage (FINS) and Forest in advanced stage (FAS). In each area, it was demarcated a plot of 30 m x 30 m. To capture the epigean organisms, mesofauna and macrofauna, 'pitfall-traps' were used, being distributed, randomly, 10 traps in each area. The samples were taken in April and August 2009. The activity of organisms (arm ind-1 day-1) and ecological index of the richness and evenness were calculated from the quantification and identification of individuals sampled. From the analysis of the results, it was noticed that August featured higher precipitation and directly influenced the activity, structural composition and diversity of soil fauna. The population structure was influenced by successional stages, and group activity Acari, Araneae, Diptera, Formicidae, Hymenoptera and Isopoda increased with advancing succession. Total activity and average wealth index also responded to the advancement of vegetation. The group Entomobryomorpha was the most abundant in all areas, being responsible for the variations of the index of evenness. In general, there were higher values of group activity, total activity and average wealth in FAS, and lower the FIS, thus confirming the potential use of these organisms as indicators of successional dynamics of secondary forests.
forest succession; edaphic indicators; soil fauna
