Abstract
The soil microfloras of a pastureland and three forests of different ages were studied in Ciudad Colón, Costa Rica. The arca studied is composed of orthent soils, at 800 m above sea level with an annual rainfall of about 2000 mm and a mean temperature of 23 C. The fern prothallus population is very low in the soil of the pastureland, it increases in the forests and reaches the highest level in that 30 years old. 00 the other hand, fungi are more abundant and diverse in the soil of the pastureland than in the younger forests (11 and 21 years old) but increases again in the 30 year-old forest. This situation could be considered as a case of microsuccession, since the species composition of the pastureland fungi community is different from that in the soil of the older forest. Algae were also more abundant and diverse in the pastureland than in the forests. The relative richness of algae and fungi communities in the soil of the pastureland could explain the highest rate of soil respiration observed here. Soil bacteria increased with the age of the forest.References
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