Soil fauna can influence soil processes through interactions with the microbial community.
Due to the complexity of the functional roles of fauna and their effects on microbes, little consensus has been reached on the extent to which soil fauna can regulate microbial activities. Exclusion of fauna was established by physically removing the soil macrofauna and applying naphthalene. The effect of naphthalene application on the biomass of microbes that mineralize salicylate was quantified using the substrate induced growth response method. Soil fauna have relatively larger effects on the microbial activities in the subalpine forests than in tropical dry and wet forests.