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Quantification of soil biological status, through investigation of edaphic communities' composition, constitutes an important factor for the assessment of the grassland ecosystems, including their protection. The structure of soil invertebrate communities was investigated for five grasslands under different chemical and organic treatments, for the first time in Romania. In order to accomplish this task, some structural parameters were quantified: numerical abundance, taxa richness, Shannon diversity index of taxa and equitability. We demonstrated the relationship between five environmental factors (vegetation coverage, soil temperature, soil acidity, soil resistance at penetration, soil moisture content) and the community structures of soil fauna. In total, 17 invertebrate groups were identified with a total numerical abundance of 14,953 individuals. Considering the numerical abundance, the dominant taxa were Acaridae, Collembola, Oribatida and Mesostigmata, the least dominant being Coleoptera, Opiliones and Araneae. In spatial dynamics the investigated plots were characterised specifically by soil invertebrates' communities' structures, highlighted by the varied values of structural parameters: by indicator taxa and by the characteristic average values of environmental parameters. Multivariate statistical analysis revealed that the most important environment parameters influencing the soil taxa were vegetation coverage (especially on Acaridae, Glycyphagidae and Formicoidea) and soil resistance at penetration (Nematoda and Coleoptera). This study constitutes a scientific argument for the usage of soil invertebrate communities as indicators of the ecological conservation status of some fertilised grasslands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

West Nile virus (WNV) is one of the most prevalent mosquito-borne viruses. Although the infection in humans is mostly asymptomatic, 15-20% of cases show flu-like symptoms with fever. In 1% of infections, humans develop severe nervous symptoms and even die, a condition known as West Nile neuroinvasive disease (WNND). The aim of our study was to analyze the influence of abiotic and biotic factors with the human WNND cases during the period 2015-2019. A database containing all the localities in Romania was developed. Abiotic and biotic predictors were included for each locality: geographic variables, climatic data, and biotic factors. Spatial distribution of the WNND infections was analyzed using directional distribution (DD). The Spearman's rank correlation coefficient was employed to assess the strength of association between the WNND infections and predictors. A model was generated using the random forest ensemble learning method. A total number of 535 human WNND cases were confirmed in 308 localities. The DD showed a south-eastern geographical distribution. Weak correlation was observed between the number of human WNND cases for each year and the predictors. The highest predicted probability was around urbanized patches in the south and southeast. Increased surveillance and control measures of vectors in risk areas should be implemented and educational campaigns should be made available for the general public in order to raise awareness of the disease and inform the population about prophylactic measures.