Animals under Logs and Stones

Logs and stones provide an interesting interface between the damp depths of the soil and the drier open ground surface. The communities of organisms that live beneath them are little noticed and even less studied, yet the potential for ecological work on them is great. Some of the animals are relatively large and are often not difficult to find. They exhibit a wide range of life styles, from relatively slow slugs or snails to very fast centipedes, from generalist to specialist feeders and from herbivores to carnivores.