Oribatid communities (Acari: Oribatida) associated with bird’s nests - microhabitats in urban environment

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the species composition and structure of thrush nest oribatocenoses under urban conditions in Slovakia and Germany and to further determine the influence of some environmental variables on the oribatid mite community. A total of 1,623 individuals of oribatids in different stages of their life cycles belonging to 53 species and 24 families were identified in a total of 43 nests. Of these, 24 species were recorded in Slovakia, 45 species were recorded in Germany, 20 species occurred in song thrush nests, and 49 species occurred in Eurasian blackbird nests. A total of 17 species were common to both types of nests. A total of thirty species recorded in this study were found in bird nests for the first time. There was a significant difference between the nest species compositions in different localities and between the nest oribatocenosis abundances for the two studied thrush species.

Songbird nests on the ground as islands of diversity of ptyctimous mites (Acari: Oribatida) in the primeval Białowieża Forest (Poland)

“…Mite assemblages that have been extensively examined in bird nests include Mesostigmata, e.g., Uropodina (Acari: Parasitiformes), which can be regarded as facultative nidicoles inhabiting bird nests (Krištofík et al 2001 , 2005 , 2007 ; Mašán 2001 ; Gwiazdowicz and Mizera 2002 ; Fenďa and Schniererová 2004 ; Gwiazdowicz et al 2005 , 2006 ; Błoszyk et al 2005 , 2006 , 2009 ; Bajerlein et al 2006 ; Napierała et al 2021 ). Other groups of mites which were found in bird nests are Oribatida (Błoszyk and Olszanowski 1985 ; Fain et al 1993 ; Tryjanowski et al 2001 ; Ardeshir 2010 ; Ermilov 2013 ; Lebedeva and Poltavskaya 2013 ; Meleschuk and Skilsky 2017 ; Melekhina et al 2019 ; Napierała et al 2021 ; Liu et al 2022 ; Mangová et al 2022 , Laska et al 2023 ) and Prostigmata (Kaźmierski 1996 ; Bochkov 2004 ; Bochkov and OConnor 2010 ; Skoracki et al 2012 ; Kaźmierski et al 2018 ; Laska et al 2023 ). However, most of the publications on Oribatida in bird nests focus on faunistic studies, without any analysis of the examined communities (Błoszyk and Olszanowski 1985 ; Fain et al 1993 ; Tryjanowski et al 2001 ; Lebedeva and Poltavskaya 2013 ; Meleschuk and Skilsky 2017 ; Melekhina et al 2019 ; Liu et al 2022 ).…”

“…The exceptions are two studies describing assemblages of ptyctimous mites in Australia (Niedbała and Szywilewska-Szczykutowicz 2017 ; Niedbała et al 2021 ), and one work focusing on the communities of ptyctimous mites inhabiting soil and dead wood in the Białowieża Forest (Niedbała et al 2020 ). There are also two studies concerning mite assemblages in bird nests that include ptyctimous mites (Mangová et al 2022 ; Laska et al 2023 ), including one outlining the assemblages of oribatid mites in bird’s nests in an urban environment, and another describing mite assemblages (including representatives of Mesostigmata, Trombidiformes and Sarcoptiformes) inhabiting nests of wood warblers ( Phylloscopus sibilatrix ) collected in the Wielkopolska National Park (W Poland). However, information on the assemblage of ptyctimous mites within bird nests situated on the forest floor is still rare, and it remains unclear whether bird nests might represent islands of increased diversity of the mite assemblage in forest ecosystems.…”