Some species of centipedes and millipedes inhabit upper soil layers exclusively and are not recorded by pitfall trapping. Because of their sensitivity to soil conditions, they can be sampled quantitatively for evaluation of soil conditions. Soil samples are heavy to transport and their processing is time consuming, and such sampling leads to disturbance of the soil surface which land-owners do not like. We evaluated the use of hay-bait traps to sample soil dwelling millipedes and centipedes. The effectiveness of this method was found to be similar to the effectiveness of soil sampling. Hay-bait traps installed for 8–10 weeks can substitute for direct soil sampling in ecological and inventory studies.

Whereas contemporary agriculture reduces invertebrate diversity, organic farming is expected to minimize this negative influence. In this study, we compared communities of surface-dwelling soil macrofauna from the fields farmed conventionally and organically over the last 15 years in the crop rotation with winter oilseed rape and winter wheat. A statistically higher number of specimens were caught in the conventional treatment of both crops. Ground beetles (i.e. beetles of the family Carabidae) and spiders were the most abundant groups. While spiders preferred organically managed fields, carabids tended to prefer the conventional system, as carabid communities were affected by springtime mechanical soil interventions (harrowing and hoeing). These interventions were insignificant to spiders as they over-winter in field margins, spread very well by air and are able to re-colonize agroecosystems quickly. This reveals that organic farming does not necessarily support the development of populations and communities of soil fauna.