ABSTRACT
The Brazilian Pampa is predominantly composed of native grasslands with riparian forest formations. It preserves a rich biodiversity and provides vast biological resources for economic uses. The objectives of this study were to compare the mite fauna composition on plants in three environments i.e. grassland, grazing exclusions, and riparian forest; to relate mites with microclimatic factors, and to evaluate interactions between mites and vascular plants. Data analysis was based mainly on the relationship between mite and plant species. A total of 117 mite species were collected, most of which were phytophagous (57%). Our studies revealed that mite communities from riparian forest differ from grazing exclusions and grasslands. Grassland and grazing exclusions were dominated by two species i.e. Brevipalpus sp2 and Tydeus californicus (Banks). In the riparian forest, the most abundant species was Lorryia formosa (Cooreman). In conclusion, mites represent environmental indicators of microclimatic factors and landscape. All the sampling sites had high interaction between mites and plants.
Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful to Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - Brasil (CAPES) [Postdoctoral scholarship nº. 1805977 awarded to VLS] [Doctoral scholarship nº. 88887.153412/2017-00 awarded to MT], Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) [productivity scholarship nº. 310035-2017-1. awarded to NJF], Celulose Riograndense, and UNIVATES for their financial support.
Author contribution
All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation and data collection were performed by Maicon Toldi, Júlia Jansch Ferla, Gabriel Lima Bizarro and Tairis Da-Costa; statistical analysis was performed by Vinicius Leão da Silva and Noeli Juarez Ferla. Mite identification was performed by Gabriel Lima Bizarro, Júlia Jansch Ferla, Maicon Toldi and Tairis Da-Costa. The identification of sampled plants was done by Elisete Maria de Freitas. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).