The Maturity Index,the evolution of nematode life history traits,adaptive radiation and cp-scaling

Nematodes are increasingly being used in environmental studies. One of the potential parameters to measure the impact of disturbances and to monitor changes in structure and functioning of the below-ground ecosystem is the nematode Maturity Index; an index based on the proportion of colonizers (r-strategists s.l.) and persisters (K-strategists s.l.) in samples. In this paper the original allocation of nematode taxa on the colonizer-persister scale, and the tolerance and sensitivity of colonizers and persisters are discussed from an evolutionary viewpoint. The phenomenon that neither relative egg size nor body length is an unequivocal character to scale nematodes suggests that the main selection for life history traits occurred independently in the major evolutionary branches. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.