Influence of habitat type and natural disturbances on uropodine mite communities (Acari: Mesostigmata: Uropodina) in oak-hornbeam forests in Central Europe

Abstract

The study presented in the current article was carried out in two selected natural forest reserves in Poland, i.e. Jakubowo and Las Grądowy near Mogilnica in western Wielkopolska (Poland). The material for the analysis contains quantitative soil samples collected in the period 1978–1983 and more recent material from 2005, 2006 and 2011–2013. The major aim of the study was to establish the changes in species composition, frequency and abundance of Uropodina (Acari: Mesostigmata) mite communities in six plots in Jakubowo and Las Grądowy over a long-term period. The results of the analysis clearly show that the core of the examined mite communities consists of the same eurytopic species, whereas the occurrence of rare species with narrower ecological tolerances was probably to a large extent determined by the different microhabitat conditions in each of the examined areas. The most disturbing phenomenon observed during the research period, which lasted for over 36 years, is a considerable decrease in the abundance of Uropodina in ground litter and soil of the two reserves. The changes that have already occurred in the examined mite communities were associated with natural succession in the flora and anthropogenic disturbances in the environment.

Keywords:

• Uropodina
• natural forest reserve
• oak-hornbeam forests
• stability of mite communities
• long-term research

Acknowledgements

The authors of the paper are grateful to all those who helped during the sample collection sessions throughout the whole project, especially staff members and students of the Department of Animal Morphology, Department of Animal Taxonomy and Ecology and Department of General Zoology in the Faculty of Biology at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań.