Seasonal Change of Oribatid Mite Communities (Acari, Oribatida) in Three Different Types of Microhabitats in an Oak Forest

Abstract

Gergócs et al.: Seasonal change of oribatid mite communities (Acari, Oribatida) Abstract. Oribatid mites are one of the most abundant groups of the ground-dwelling mesofauna. They can be found in almost every terrestrial habitat all over the world and they are characterized by great species richness and great number of individuals. In spite of that not enough is known about their behaviour on community level and their spatial and temporal pattern in different habitats of the world. In our present study the seasonal behaviour of oribatid mite communities was analysed in three types of microhabitats in a temperate deciduous forest: in leaf litter, soil and moss. Samples were collected at a given site in a year and a half and the oribatid mite communities living there were studied on genus level along with the changes of meteorological factors characteristic of the area. The results show that corresponding to similar previous researches, the communities in our study do not have a seasonally changing, returning pattern either. Based on this, we can conclude that climatic differences and differences in other seasonally changing factors between the seasons do not have a significant role in the annual change of communities. Besides that we discovered that the communities of the three microhabitats are not completely the same. It is the oribatid mite community of the moss which differs mostly from communities in the leaf litter and in the soil. Our study calls attention among others to the fact that compositional changes of the oribatid mite communities living all over the world and their causes are unclear to date.

Long-term and realistic global change manipulations had low impact on diversity of soil biota in temperate heathland

“…The high proportion of Brachychthoniidae and Oppiidae species in April 2013 may be due to massive hatching of their eggs during the well-known spring-peak of oribatid abundance41. However, the recorded differences in the overall abundance between two sampling occasions are within the known range of abundance and diversity variance across different seasons and years4243.…”

A general framework for analyzing beta diversity, nestedness and related community-level phenomena based on abundance data

“…A single site in a dry oak forest in Hungary was sampled 27 times in the same year (i.e., every two weeks in 2009). In the foerna layer (the thin horizon between litter and topsoil), oribatids were collected and were identified at the genus level (Gergócs et al, 2011). The data set contains the number of individuals for each genus (52) at each sampling date and comparisons were made in all possible pairs of sampling dates.…”

Kelimpahan Dan Keanekaragaman Mikroarthropoda Pada Mikrohabitat Kelapa Sawit

“…Respon mikroarthropoda terhadap kondisi lingkungan menentukan kemampuannya menggunakan mikrohabitat tersebut. Gergocs et al (2011) menambahkan bahwa mikrohabitat mikroarthropoda dapat dijumpai dalam tanah, serasah, lumut, di bawah kayu, dedaunan maupun perairan.…”