Human occupation of Trindade Island caused the decline of much of its vegetation and pronounced changes of the island's landscape. The main factor behind these changes was human colonization and the introduction of goats by Edmond Harlley in 1700. Without natural predators on the island, these animals proliferated uncontrolled and consumed almost all plant cover. High declivities in most parts of the island led to soil erosion and loss of surface soil. The goats were finally eradicated in 2005, allowing vegetation to recover since then. This work explored the hypothesis that the recovery of the island's vegetation was accompanied by the recovery of physicochemical characteristics and soil biological functions. Soils in revegetated areas showed higher values of microbial biomass, basal respiration, microbial quotient, mineralizable nitrogen, and enzymatic activities, and lower metabolic quotient. Principal component analyzes demonstrated that the correlations between the indicators and the principal components remained practically unchanged in two sampling periods (rainy and dry season). Biological indicators are more related to the presence or absence of vegetation than to the type of vegetation, soil physicochemical properties or time of sampling. The natural recovery of the vegetation, combined with the microbiological indicators of soil, demonstrate the improvement of the insular ecosystem after goats were eradicated.

人类对特林达德岛的占领导致其大部分植被减少，岛上景观发生显着变化。这些变化背后的主要因素是人类的殖民化和埃德蒙·哈雷在 1700 年引入山羊。岛上没有天敌，这些动物不受控制地繁殖并消耗了几乎所有的植物覆盖物。岛上大部分地区的高坡度导致水土流失和表层土壤流失。山羊最终在 2005 年被消灭，从那时起植被得以恢复。这项工作探索了岛上植被的恢复伴随着理化特性和土壤生物功能的恢复的假设。重新植被区域的土壤显示出较高的微生物生物量、基础呼吸、微生物商数、可矿化氮、和酶活性，以及​​较低的代谢商数。主成分分析表明，在两个采样期（雨季和旱季），指标与主成分之间的相关性几乎保持不变。生物指标更多地与植被的存在与否有关，而不是与植被类型、土壤理化性质或采样时间有关。植被的自然恢复，结合土壤的微生物指标，证明了消灭山羊后岛屿生态系统的改善。生物指标更多地与植被的存在与否有关，而不是与植被类型、土壤理化性质或采样时间有关。植被的自然恢复，结合土壤的微生物指标，证明了消灭山羊后岛屿生态系统的改善。生物指标更多地与植被的存在与否有关，而不是与植被类型、土壤理化性质或采样时间有关。植被的自然恢复，结合土壤的微生物指标，证明了消灭山羊后岛屿生态系统的改善。