Food web diagrams in the post mining chronosequence.

<p><b>A</b>. General food web diagram as defined in this study. <b>B</b>, <b>C</b> and <b>D</b>. Examples of soil food webs observed in the initial (<b>B</b>), shrub (<b>C</b>) and forest (<b>D</b>) stages. In panel <b>A</b>, the numbers refer to the trophic groups: 1, detritus; 2, roots; 3, fungi; 4, bacteria; 5, naked amoebae; 6, flagellates; 7, ciliates; 8, testacea; 9, enchytraeidae; 10, bacteriophagous nematodes; 11, fungivorous nematodes; 12, root and fungal feeder nematodes; 13, plant parasite nematodes; 14, omnivorous nematodes; 15, predatory nematodes; 16, oribatida; 17, predaceous acari; 18, collembolan; 19, other microarthropods; 20, litter dwelling lumbricidae; 21, mineral dwelling lumbricidae; 22, isopoda; 23, diplopoda; 24, microsaprophagous diptera; 25, macrosaprophagous diptera; 26, predaceous diptera; 27, chilopoda; 28, aranea; 29, carabidae; 30 staphylinidae; 31, root feeding colleoptera and 32, formicidae. The arrow on the left indicates the trophic level of the groups, with primary producers and detritus at the bottom of the food web (trophic level  = 1). In panels <b>B</b>, <b>C</b> and <b>D</b>, the size of the circles correspond to the relative biomass of the different trophic groups in the food web, while the width of the arrows corresponds to the relative intensity of C flow between trophic groups estimated by the model.</p

Relationship between fungal bacterial ration and Oe layer.

<p>Relationships between thiskness of fermentation Oe layer and two forms of fungal bacterial pathway ratio, FB1 -based on the biomass of individual guilds, FB2 based on the biomass of individual guilds standardized over the biomass of the same guild in the whole chronosequence. Both regression lanes are significant p<0.05.</p

Trophic groups.

<p>Mean and SD of biomass dry weight (mg m⁻²) in individual sucession stages and values of physiological parameters of the different trophic groups in the food web. A – assimilation efficiency, P – production efficiency, D – death rate (yr⁻¹), data from Hunt et al. <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0079694#pone.0079694-Hunt1" target="_blank">[29]</a>. Biomass values lower than 0.5 mg are marked as +; empty cells indicate the absence of a group. Statistically homogeneous groups of the same guild in various succession stages are marked by the same letter (ANOVA, LSD test p<0.05); no letter means that no significant difference was found.</p><p>1 – Naked Amoebae, 2 – Nematodes, bacteriophagous, 3 – Nematodes, fungivorous, 4 – Nematodes, root and fungal feeders, 5 – Nematodes, plant parasites, 6 – Nematodes, omnivores, 7 – Nematodes, predators, 8 – Predaceous acari, 9 – Other microarthropods, 10 –Lumbricidae, litter dwelling, 11 – Lumbricidae, mineral dwelling, 12 – Diptera, microsaprophagous, 13 – Diptera, macrosaprophagous, 14 –Diptera, predaceous, 15 – Colleoptera, root feeding.</p

Proportion of the fungal to the bacterial channel.

<p>FB1 -based on the biomass of individual guilds, FB2 based on the biomass of individual guilds standardized over the biomass of the same guild in the whole chronosequence. Dots indicate the parameter values for individual ages; squares correspond to the mark mean value (bars mean SD) for initial, shrub and forest stages. Grey areas highlight the shrub stage and delimitate the herb stage on the left and the forest stage on the right. There is no significant trend line between the given parameters and time. Statistically homogeneous groups of stages are indicated by the same letter (ANOVA, LSD post hoc test p<0.05).</p

Food web diversity related to plot age.

<p>Number of functional groups in the food web (S), exponent of Shannon-Weiner index, of diversity for functional groups present in the food web (Div S), mean (TLm) and maximum (TLM) trophic level of the groups in the food web. Dots indicate the parameter value for individual ages; squares correspond to the mean value (bars mean SD) for initial, shrub and forest stages. Grey areas highlight the shrub stage and delimitate the initial stage on the left and the forest stage on the right. A trend line between a given parameter and time is present only if significant p<0.05; statistically homogeneous groups of stages are indicated by the same letter (ANOVA, LSD post hoc test p<0.05); if no letter is present in the panel, no significant difference was found.</p

Food web C flow and total biomass of individual food webs related to plot age.

<p>Amount of C entering food web ner m² and year, and biomas per m². Dots indicate the parameter value for individual ages; squares correspond to the mean value (bars mean SD) for initial, shrub and forest stages. Grey areas highlight the shrub stage and delimitate the initial stage on the left and the forest stage on the right. A trend line between a given parameter and time is present only if significant p<0.05; statistically homogeneous groups of stages are indicated by the same letter (ANOVA, LSD post hoc test p<0.05); if no letter is present in the panel, no significant difference was found.</p

Conectance and instability of food webs related to plot age.

<p>Dots indicate the parameter values for individual ages; squares correspond to the mark mean value (bars mean SD) for initial, shrub amd forest stages. Grey areas highlight the shrub stage and delimitate the herb stage on the left and the forest stage on the right. There is no significant trend line between the given parameters and time. Statistically homogeneous groups of stages are indicated by the same letter (ANOVA, LSD post hoc testp<0.05).</p

Characteristics of soil development and plant production in individual succession stages.

<p>Values represent mean ± SD for individual phases of succession obtained by pooling data from 4 initial, 6 shrub and 4 forest sites, the initial, shrub and forest stages were 1–13, 14–22 and 23–41 years old, respectively. Oe refers to fermentation layer thickness and A to the thicknes of the darker organo-mineral layer. Based on data in Frouz et al. <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0079694#pone.0079694-Frouz1" target="_blank">[9]</a>.</p