Evaluation of a membrane filter technique to count soil and litter testacea

The millipore filtering technique, to enumerate soil Testacea (Coûteaux, 1967), was evaluated for use in testacean population studies in a cool temperate deciduous forest soil. The modifications tested were number of samples required, sample replication, and type and length of sample maceration. The millipore filtering technique was compared to the agar film technique, another direct observation technique used for the estimation of numbers of soil Testacea (Heal, 1964). The results showed that the number of species observed, the number of active and encysted Testacea and empty tests counted for each species, and the number of total Testacea were substantially greater using the millipore filtering technique.