Surface mining activities and other large civil engineering works often involve the removal, storage and reinstatement of topsoil. Disturbance disrupts normal biological functions within the soil and can markedly change the environment within which soil organisms must exist. This has implications for soil fertility and for the overall ecology of replaced land. A number of studies have investigated the impact of opencast coal mining practices on soil organisms and their capacity for recovery following site reinstatement. The extent and duration of any adverse effect varies from one group of organisms to another according to their vulnerability to damage, their capacity for recovery and their ability to recolonize areas from which they have been eliminated. Three groups of organisms-earthworms, aerobic bacteria and vesicular arbuscular endophytes-are considered, to illustrate their differing responses to soil disturbance and the various factors limiting their early recovery throughout a restored area. Given favourable management, consistent with good general rehabilitative practice, the re-establishment of normal earthworm populations depends entirely on the distribution of an inoculum. For aerobic bacteria adverse physical conditions in reinstated soils are the overriding influence determining levels of activity. For mycorrhizal fungi both soil conditions and the absence of an inoculum may delay recovery, although the evidence in support of this view is inconclusive.