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Community structure, trophic position and reproductive mode of soil and bark-living oribatid mites in an alpine grassland ecosystem

The community structure, stable isotope ratios ((15)N/(14)N, (13)C/(12)C) and reproductive mode of oribatid mites (Acari, Oribatida) were investigated in four habitats (upper tree bark, lower tree bark, dry grassland soil, forest soil) at two sites in the Central Alps (Tyrol, Austria). We hypothesiz...

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Autores principales: Fischer, Barbara M., Schatz, Heinrich, Maraun, Mark
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Springer Netherlands 2010
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2951506/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20490626
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10493-010-9366-8
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author Fischer, Barbara M.
Schatz, Heinrich
Maraun, Mark
author_facet Fischer, Barbara M.
Schatz, Heinrich
Maraun, Mark
author_sort Fischer, Barbara M.
collection PubMed
description The community structure, stable isotope ratios ((15)N/(14)N, (13)C/(12)C) and reproductive mode of oribatid mites (Acari, Oribatida) were investigated in four habitats (upper tree bark, lower tree bark, dry grassland soil, forest soil) at two sites in the Central Alps (Tyrol, Austria). We hypothesized that community structure and trophic position of oribatid mites of dry grassland soils and bark of trees are similar since these habitats have similar abiotic characteristics (open, dry) compared with forest soil. Further, we hypothesized that derived taxa of oribatid mites reproducing sexually dominate on the bark of trees since species in this habitat consume living resources such as lichens. In contrast to our hypothesis, the community structure of oribatid mites differed among grassland, forest and bark indicating the existence of niche differentiation in the respective oribatid mite species. In agreement with our hypothesis, sexually reproducing taxa of oribatid mites dominated on the bark of trees whereas parthenogenetic species were more frequent in soil. Several species of bark-living oribatid mites had stable isotope signatures that were similar to lichens indicating that they feed on lichens. However, nine species that frequently occurred on tree bark did not feed on lichens according to their stable isotope signatures. No oribatid mite species could be ascribed to moss feeding. We conclude that sexual reproduction served as preadaptation for oribatid mites allowing them to exploit new habitats and new resources on the bark of trees. Abiotic factors likely are of limited importance for bark-living oribatid mites since harsh abiotic conditions are assumed to favor parthenogenesis.
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spelling pubmed-29515062010-10-21 Community structure, trophic position and reproductive mode of soil and bark-living oribatid mites in an alpine grassland ecosystem Fischer, Barbara M. Schatz, Heinrich Maraun, Mark Exp Appl Acarol Article The community structure, stable isotope ratios ((15)N/(14)N, (13)C/(12)C) and reproductive mode of oribatid mites (Acari, Oribatida) were investigated in four habitats (upper tree bark, lower tree bark, dry grassland soil, forest soil) at two sites in the Central Alps (Tyrol, Austria). We hypothesized that community structure and trophic position of oribatid mites of dry grassland soils and bark of trees are similar since these habitats have similar abiotic characteristics (open, dry) compared with forest soil. Further, we hypothesized that derived taxa of oribatid mites reproducing sexually dominate on the bark of trees since species in this habitat consume living resources such as lichens. In contrast to our hypothesis, the community structure of oribatid mites differed among grassland, forest and bark indicating the existence of niche differentiation in the respective oribatid mite species. In agreement with our hypothesis, sexually reproducing taxa of oribatid mites dominated on the bark of trees whereas parthenogenetic species were more frequent in soil. Several species of bark-living oribatid mites had stable isotope signatures that were similar to lichens indicating that they feed on lichens. However, nine species that frequently occurred on tree bark did not feed on lichens according to their stable isotope signatures. No oribatid mite species could be ascribed to moss feeding. We conclude that sexual reproduction served as preadaptation for oribatid mites allowing them to exploit new habitats and new resources on the bark of trees. Abiotic factors likely are of limited importance for bark-living oribatid mites since harsh abiotic conditions are assumed to favor parthenogenesis. Springer Netherlands 2010-05-21 2010 /pmc/articles/PMC2951506/ /pubmed/20490626 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10493-010-9366-8 Text en © The Author(s) 2010 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.
spellingShingle Article
Fischer, Barbara M.
Schatz, Heinrich
Maraun, Mark
Community structure, trophic position and reproductive mode of soil and bark-living oribatid mites in an alpine grassland ecosystem
title Community structure, trophic position and reproductive mode of soil and bark-living oribatid mites in an alpine grassland ecosystem
title_full Community structure, trophic position and reproductive mode of soil and bark-living oribatid mites in an alpine grassland ecosystem
title_fullStr Community structure, trophic position and reproductive mode of soil and bark-living oribatid mites in an alpine grassland ecosystem
title_full_unstemmed Community structure, trophic position and reproductive mode of soil and bark-living oribatid mites in an alpine grassland ecosystem
title_short Community structure, trophic position and reproductive mode of soil and bark-living oribatid mites in an alpine grassland ecosystem
title_sort community structure, trophic position and reproductive mode of soil and bark-living oribatid mites in an alpine grassland ecosystem
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2951506/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20490626
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10493-010-9366-8
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