Importance of moss habitats for mesostigmatid mites (Acari: Mesostigmata) in Romania
This study aimed to characterize the composition of soil mite populations (Acari: Mesostigmata) from 3 moss habitats (rock moss, bark moss, and soil moss). In total, 15 natural forest ecosystems were analyzed (3 deciduous forests, 5 beech forests, 1 fir forest, 5 spruce forests, and 1 mixed forest), from 8 counties in Romania. A total of 240 soil samples, 97 species, and 3018 individuals were analyzed. The samples were taken from April 2012 until October 2013. The highest numerical abundance and species diversity was found in the soil moss, in comparison with bark moss, where the lowest values were recorded. Using statistical analysis, we found a significant effect of habitat type on abundance and species richness, with mite communities grouped into 3 distinct classes. If we take into consideration the high diversity values and the presence of characteristic species (53.59% from the total number of mites from Romania), we conclude that these moss habitats, situated in natural undisturbed forests, are very important from a conservation point of view.
___
- Ács A, Kontschan J (2014). Contribution to the Macrochelidae
Vitzthum, 1930 fauna of the Carpathian Basin and the
Balkan Peninsula (Acari: Mesostigmata). Opuscula Zoologica
Budapest 45: 109-118.
- Ács A, Kontschan J (2015). Contribution to the Veigaiidae Oudemans,
1939 fauna of the Carpathian Basin and the Balkan Peninsula
(Acari: Mesostigmata). Opuscula Zoologica Budapest 46: 121-
131.
- Arroyo J, Kenny J, Bolger T (2012). A survey of the Oribatida and
Mesostigmata (Acarina) of Irish forests. Bulletin of the Irish
Biogeographical Society 36: 33-59.
- Arroyo J, Moraza ML, Bolger T (2010). The mesostigmatid mite
(Acari, Mesostigmata) community in canopies of Sitka spruce
forests in Ireland and a comparison with ground moss habitats.
Graellsia 66: 29-37.
- Arroyo J, Keith AM, Schmidt O, Bolger T (2013). Mite abundance
and richness in an Irish survey of soil biodiversity with
comments on some newly recorded species. Irish Naturalists’
Journal 33: 19-27.
- Arroyo J, Kenny J, Bolger T (2013). Variation between mite
communities in Irish forest types importance of bark and moss
cover in canopy. Pedobiologia 56: 241-250.
- Aspetti GP, Boccelli R, Ampollini D, Del Re AAM, Capri E (2010).
Assessment of soil-quality index based on microarthropods in
corn cultivation in Northern Italy. Ecol Indic 10: 129-135.
- Balogh J (1972). The Oribatid Genera of the World. Budapest:
Akademiai Kiado.
- Bajerlein D, Błoszyk J, Gwiazdowicz D, Ptaszyk J, Halliday B
(2006). Community structure and dispersal of mites (Acari,
Mesostigmata) in nests of the white stork (Ciconia ciconia).
Biologia 61: 525-530.
- Bates D, Maechler M, Bolker B, Walker S (2014). lme4: linear mixedeffects models using Eigen and S4. R Package Versions 1.1–7.
Available at: http://CRAN.R-project. org/package=lme4.
Accessed 30 February 2017.
- Bloszyk J, Bajerlein D, Gwiazdowicz DJ, Halliday RB, Dylewska M
(2006). Uropodine mite communities (Acari: Mesostigmata) in
birds’ nests in Poland. Belg J Zool 136: 145-153.
- Bolger T, Arroyo J, Kenny J, Caplice M (2014). Hierarchical analysis
of mite community structures in Irish forests: a study of the
relative contribution of location, forest type, and microhabitat.
Appl Soil Ecol 83: 39-43.
- Botnariuc N, Vădineanu A (1982). Ecologie [Ecology]. Bucureşti:
Editura Didactică şi Pedagogică (in Romanian).
- Călugăr A, Huţu M (2008). Fauna de gamaside edifice (Acari:
Gamasida Leach, 1815). In: Chifu T, Manoliu A, Toma C,
editors. Parcul Naţional Călimani. Studii ecologice şi de
biodiversitate. Cluj-Napoca, Romania: Editura Alma Mater,
pp. 238-247 (in Romanian).
- Cragg RG, Bardgett RD (2001). How changes in soil faunal diversity
and composition within trophic group influence decomposition
processes. Soil Biol Biochem 33: 2073-2081.
- Dirilgen T, Arroyo J, Dimmers WJ, Faber J, Stone D, Martins da Silva
P, Carvalho F, Schmelz R, Griffiths BS, Francisco R, Creamer
RE, Sousa JP, Bolger T (2016). Mite community composition
across a European transect and its relationships to variation in
other components of soil biodiversity. Appl Soil Ecol 97: 86-97.
- Dormann CF, McPherson JM, Araújo MB, Bivand R, Bolliger J, Carl
G, Davies RG, Hirzel A, Jetz W, Daniel Kissling W (2007).
Methods to account for spatial autocorrelation in the analysis
of species distributional data: a review. Ecography 30: 609-628.
Garcia-Palacios P, Fernando T, Maestre FT, Kattge J, Wall DH (2013).
Climate and litter quality differently modulate the effects of
soil fauna on litter decomposition across biomes. Ecol Lett 16:
1045-1053.
- Ghilyarov MS, Bregetova NG (1977). Opredeliteľ obitayushchikh v
pochve kleshcheĭ (Mesostigmata. Petrograd, Russia: Zoological
Institute of the Academy of Sciences.
- Gwiazdowicz DJ, Klemt J (2004). Mesostigmatic mites (Acari,
Gamasida) in selected microhabitats of the Biebrza National
Park (NE Poland). Biol Letters 41: 11-19.
- Gwiazdowicz DJ, Kmita M (2004). Mites (Acari, Mesostigmata) from
selected microhabitats of the „Ujście Warty” National Park.
Acta Scientiarum Polonorum Silvarum Colendarum Ratio et
Industria Lignaria 3: 49-55.
- Gwiazdowicz DJ (2007). Ascid Mites (Acari, Gamasina) from
Selected Forest Ecosystems and Microhabitats in Poland.
Poznań, Poland: University Augusta Cieszkowskiego.
- Gwiazdowicz DJ, Kamczyc J, Teodorowicz E, Błoszyk J (2012).
Mite communities (Acari, Mesostigmata) associated with Ips
typographus (Coleoptera, Scolytidae) in managed and natural
Norway spruce stands in Central Europe. Cent Eur J Biol 7:
910-916.
- Gwiazdowicz JD, Kamczyc J, Rakowski R (2011). Mesostigmatid
mites in four classes of wood decay. Exp Appl Acarol 55: 155-
165.
- Hammer Ø, Harper DAT, Ryan PD (2001). PAST: paleontological
statistics software package for education and data analysis.
Palaeontol Electron 4: 1-9.
- Hothorn T, Bretz F, Westfall P (2008). Simultaneous inference in
general parametric models. Biometrical J 50: 346-363.
- Hoyle M, Gilbert F (2004). Species richness of moss landscapes
unaffected by short-term fragmentation. Oikos 105: 359-367.
- Huhta V, Siira-Pietikäinen A, Penttinen R (2012). Importance of
dead wood for soil mite (Acarina) communities in boreal oldgrowth forests. Soil Organisms 84: 499-512.
Hyatt KH (1980). Mites of the subfamily Parasitinae (Mesostigmata:
Parasitidae) in the British Isles. Bulletin of the British Museum
(Natural History), Zoology 38: 237-378.
- Kalȕz S, Fenďa P (2005). Mites (Acari: Mesostigmata) of the Family
Ascidae of Slovakia. Bratislava, Slovakia: Institute of Zoology,
Slovak Academy of Science.
- Kaczmarek S, Marquardt T, Falenczyk-Kozirog K (2011). Diversity of
the Mesostigmata (Acari) in tree-hollows of selected deciduous
tree species. Biol Letters 48: 29-37.
- Kamczyc J, Skorupski M (2014). Mites (Acari, Mesostigmata) from
rock cracks and crevices in rock labyrinths in the Sto³owe
Mountains National Park (SW Poland). Biol Letters 51: 55-62.
- Kamczyc J, Gwiazdowicz JD (2013). The diversity of soil mites
(Acari: Mesostigmata) in yellow ant (Lasius flavus) nests along
a gradient of land use. Biologia 68: 314-318.
- Karg W (1993). Acari (Acarina), Milben Parasitiformes
(Anactinochaeta). Cohors Gamasina Leach. Die Tierwelt
Deutschlands 59: 1-513.
- Kontschan J (2003). Uropodina (Acari: Mesostigmata) fauna of
Aggteleki National Park (NE Hungary). Folia Historico
Naturalia Musei Matraensis 27: 53-57.
- Krantz GW, Walter DE (2009). A Manual of Acarology. Third edition.
Lubbock, TX, USA: Texas Tech University Press.
- Krawczyk AJ, Augustiničová G, Gwiazdowicz DJ, Konwerski S,
Kucharczyk H, Olejniczak I, Rutkowski T, Skubała P, Solarz
K, Zdrojewska Z, Tryjanowsk P (2015). Nests of the harvest
mouse (Micromys minutus) as habitat for invertebrates.
Biologia 70: 1637-1647.
- Kethley JB (1990). Acarina: Prostigmata (Actinedida). In: Dindal DL,
editor. Soil Biology Guide. Brisbane, Australia: John Wiley and
Sons, pp. 667-756.
- Kindt R (2014). BiodiversityR: GUI for biodiversity, suitability and
community ecology analysis. Available from: https://cran.rproject.org/web/packages/BiodiversityR/BiodiversityR.
Madej G, Barczyk G, Gawenda I (2011). Importance of microhabitats
for preservation of species diversity, on the basis of
mesostigmatid mites (Mesostigmata, Arachnida, Acari). Pol J
Environ Stud 20: 961-968.
- Manu M (2011). Influence of the cliff microclimate on the population
ecology of soil predatory mites (Acari: Mesostigmata -
Gamasina) from Romania. In: Atanasov A, editor. Proceedings
of the Third International Conference “Research People and
Actual Tasks on Multidisciplinary Sciences”, Lozenec, Bulgaria,
Bulgarian National Multidisciplinary Scientific Network of the
Professional Society for Research Work 3: 1-6.
- Manu M (2012). The similarities between predator mite populations
(Acari: Gamasina) from some natural forests in Bucegi Massif,
Romania. Biologia 67: 390-396.
- Manu M, Băncilă RI, Onete M (2013). Soil mite communities (Acari:
Gamasina) from different ecosystem types from Romania. Belg
J Zool 143: 30-41.
- Manu M, Ion S (2014). Characterisic soil mite communities (Acari:
Gamasina) for some natural forests from Bucegi Natural Park,
Romania. Period Biol 116: 93-101.
- Manu M, Onete M (2015). Diversity of soil mite fauna (Acari:
Mesostigmata) from some cliff ecosystems – Romania. Muzeul
Olteniei Craiova. Oltenia. St şi com Şt Nat 31: 95-100.
- Mašán P (2003a). Macrochelid Mites of Slovakia (Acari,
Mesostigmata, Macrochelidae). Bratislava, Slovakia: Institute
of Zoology, Slovak Academy of Science.
- Mašán P (2003b). Identification key to Central European species of
Trachytes (Acari: Uropodina) with redescription, ecology and
distribution of Slovak species. Eur J Entomol 100: 435-448.
- Mašán P, Fenďa P (2004). Zerconid mites of Slovakia (Acari,
Mesostigmata, Zerconidae. Bratislava, Slovakia: Institute of
Zoology, Slovakia Academy of Science.
- Mašán P, Stanko S (2005). Mesostigmatic mites (Acari) and fleas
(Siphonaptera) associated with nests of mound-building
mouse, Mus spicilegus Petényi, 1882 (Mammalia, Rodentia).
Acta Parasitol 50: 228-234.
- Mašán P (2007). A review of the family Pachylaelapidae in Slovakia
with systematics and ecology of European species (Acari:
Mesostigmata: Eviphidoidea). Bratislava, Slovakia: Institute of
Zoology, Slovak Academy of Science.
- Mašán P, Fenďa P, Mihál I (2008). New edaphic mites of the genus
Veigaia from Slovakia and Bulgaria, with a key to the European
species (Acari, Mesostigmata, Veigaiidae). Zootaxa 1897: 1-19.
- Mášan P, Halliday B (2010). Review of the European genera of
Eviphididae (Acari: Mesostigmata) and the species occurring
in Slovakia. Zootaxa 2585: 1-122.
- Mitchell RJ, Urpeth HM, Britton AJ, Black H, Taylor AR (2016).
Relative importance of local- and large-scale drivers of alpine
soil microarthropod communities. Oecologia 182: 913-924.
- Moraza ML (2009). Effects of reforestation with conifers on the
communities of mesostigmatic mites in northern Spain (Acari:
Mesostigmata). In: Sabelis MW, Bruin J, editors. Trends in
Acarology. Dordrecht, The Netherland: Springer, pp. 129-133.
Oksanen J, Blanchet FG, Kindt R, Legendre L, Minchin PR, O’Hara
RB, Simpson GL, Solymos P, Stevens MHH, Wagner H (2006).
Community Ecology Package. R package version 2.0. Available
from: https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/vegan/index.
html.
- Paquette A, Messier C (2011). The effect of biodiversity on tree
productivity: from temperate to boreal forests. Global Ecol
Biogeogr 20: 170-180.
- Parviainen J (2005). Virgin and natural forests in the temperate zone
of Europe. Forest Snow and Landscape Research 79: 9-18.
- Pătru-Stupariu I, Angelstam P, Elbakidze M, Huzui A, Andersson
K (2013). Using forest history and spatial patterns to identify
potential high conservation value forests in Romania. Biodivers
Conserv 22: 2023-2039.
- Perdomo G, Sunnucks P, Thompson RM (2012). The role of
temperature and dispersal in moss-microarthropod
community assembly after a catastrophic event. Philos T R Soc
B 367: 3042-3049.
- Petersen H (1982). Structure and size of soil animal populations.
Oikos 39: 306-329.
- Queralt M, Moraza ML, Miguel AM (2014). Preliminary study of the
mite community structure in different black truffle producing
soils. Forest Systems 23: 339-348.
- Ruf A (1998). A maturity index for predatory soil mites
(Mesostigmata: Gamasina) as an indicator of environmental
impacts of pollution on forest soils. Appl Soil Ecol 9: 447-452.
- Rutgers M, Schouten AJ, Bloem J, van Eekeren NJM, Goede RGM,
Jagers op Akkerhuis GAJM, van der Wal A, Mulder C,
Brussaard L, Breure AM (2009). Biological measurements in a
nationwide soil monitoring network. Eur J Soil Sci 60: 820-832.
- Salmane I, Brumelis G (2008). The importance of the moss layer in
sustaining biological diversity of Gamasina mites in coniferous
forest soil. Pedobiologia 52: 69-76.
- Salmane I, Brumelis G (2010). Species list and habitat preference of
Mesostigmata mites (Acari, Parasitiformes) in Latvia. Acarol
50: 373-394.
- Salmane I, Spungis V (2015). Factors influencing Mesostigmata mites
(Acari, Parasitiformes) in the alkaline fen habitats. Proceedings
of the Latvian Academy of Sciences 69: 50-56.
- Schnitzlera A, Borleab F (1998). Lessons from natural forests as keys
for sustainable management and improvement of naturalness
in managed broadleaved forests. Forest Ecol Manag 109: 293-
303.
- Seniczak S, Seniczak A, Gwiazdowicz DJ, Coulson SJ (2014).
Community structure of oribatid and gamasid mites (Acari)
in moss-grass tundra in Svalbard (Spitsbergen, Norway). Arct
Antarct Alp Res 46: 591-599.
- Skorupski M, Belter W, Kamczyc J, Wierzbicka A (2008). Soil mites
(Acari, Mesostigmata) of the ‘Torfowiska Doliny Izery’ Reserve
in the Sudety Mountains. Soil Organisms 80: 261-270.
- Solomon L (1980). Zerconidae (Acari, Mesostigmata) new to the
Romanian fauna. Travaux du Muséum National d’Histoire
Naturelle 21: 51-53.
- Spiecker H (2003). Silvicultural management in maintaining
biodiversity and resistance of forests in Europe—temperate
zone. J Environ Manage 67: 55-65.
- ter Braak JFC (1986). Canonical Correspondence Analysis: a new
eigenvector technique for Multivariate Direct Gradient
Analysis. Ecology 67: 1167-1179.
- Ujvári Z, Kontschán J (2007). New occurrences of the Zerconid
mites from Hungary (Acari: Mesostigmata). Folia Historico
Naturalia Musei Matraensis 31: 107-114.
- Wallwork JA (1959). The distribution and dynamics of some forest
soil mites. Ecology 40: 557-563.
- Walter DE, Proctor HC (1999). Mites: Ecology, Evolution and
Behaviour. Hong Kong: UNSW Press, Everbest Printing.
- Wisdom R, Arroyo J, Bolger T (2011). A survey of the Oribatida and
Mesostigmata (Acarina) of Irish peatlands. Bulletin of the Irish
Biogeographical Society 35: 130-149.
- Zhang XP, Zhang SC, Huang CL (2001). Effects of soil fauna on litter
decomposition. Chinese Geogr Sci 11: 283-288.
- Zhang W, Yuan S, Hu N, Lou Y, Wang S (2015). Predicting soil fauna
effect on plant litter decomposition by using boosted regression
trees. Soil Biol Biochem 82: 81-86.