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Distribution patterns and environmental correlates of water mites (Hydrachnidia, Acari) in peatland microhabitats

In Europe peatlands are wetlands of postglacial origin. Because of climatic changes and agricultural activities (i.e. drainage and peat extraction), they are one of the most endangered ecosystems worldwide. Water mites are well known as indicators of changing environments in other ecosystems such as...

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Autores principales: Więcek, Mariusz, Martin, Peter, Gąbka, Maciej
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Springer Netherlands 2013
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3756856/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23564226
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10493-013-9692-8
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author Więcek, Mariusz
Martin, Peter
Gąbka, Maciej
author_facet Więcek, Mariusz
Martin, Peter
Gąbka, Maciej
author_sort Więcek, Mariusz
collection PubMed
description In Europe peatlands are wetlands of postglacial origin. Because of climatic changes and agricultural activities (i.e. drainage and peat extraction), they are one of the most endangered ecosystems worldwide. Water mites are well known as indicators of changing environments in other ecosystems such as springs and lakes. For our study we selected seven peatlands located in North-Western Poland and focused on water mite distribution and associated habitat and water quality variables. We described water mite fauna in various microhabitats (aquatic and semiaquatic) along the mineral-richness gradient to test whether this gradient is reflected in the composition of water mite assemblages. We selected conductivity, pH and vegetation as variables reflecting the poor-rich gradient. Additionally, we measured water depth, temperature and dissolved oxygen, which are often important parameters for water mites. We also noted presence of prey and host taxa of particular water mite species. Based on physicochemical parameters we identified three types of habitats harbouring three distinctive species groups of water mites. We were able to distinguish species that appear to be typical of spring fens (e.g. Hygrobates norvegicus, Lebertia separata), connected with acidic, nutrient poor pools (e.g. Arrenurus neumani, A. pustulator) and species seemingly typical of temporary habitats dominated by Sphagnum mosses (e.g. Piersigia intermedia, Zschokkea oblonga, A. stecki). The poor-rich gradient is strongly reflected in the composition of water mite assemblages. We also found strong correlations between the water mite fauna and both conductivity and pH gradient. Our results show that water conductivity is the most important of the examined factors, driving mite-species distribution in peatlands.
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spelling pubmed-37568562013-09-04 Distribution patterns and environmental correlates of water mites (Hydrachnidia, Acari) in peatland microhabitats Więcek, Mariusz Martin, Peter Gąbka, Maciej Exp Appl Acarol Article In Europe peatlands are wetlands of postglacial origin. Because of climatic changes and agricultural activities (i.e. drainage and peat extraction), they are one of the most endangered ecosystems worldwide. Water mites are well known as indicators of changing environments in other ecosystems such as springs and lakes. For our study we selected seven peatlands located in North-Western Poland and focused on water mite distribution and associated habitat and water quality variables. We described water mite fauna in various microhabitats (aquatic and semiaquatic) along the mineral-richness gradient to test whether this gradient is reflected in the composition of water mite assemblages. We selected conductivity, pH and vegetation as variables reflecting the poor-rich gradient. Additionally, we measured water depth, temperature and dissolved oxygen, which are often important parameters for water mites. We also noted presence of prey and host taxa of particular water mite species. Based on physicochemical parameters we identified three types of habitats harbouring three distinctive species groups of water mites. We were able to distinguish species that appear to be typical of spring fens (e.g. Hygrobates norvegicus, Lebertia separata), connected with acidic, nutrient poor pools (e.g. Arrenurus neumani, A. pustulator) and species seemingly typical of temporary habitats dominated by Sphagnum mosses (e.g. Piersigia intermedia, Zschokkea oblonga, A. stecki). The poor-rich gradient is strongly reflected in the composition of water mite assemblages. We also found strong correlations between the water mite fauna and both conductivity and pH gradient. Our results show that water conductivity is the most important of the examined factors, driving mite-species distribution in peatlands. Springer Netherlands 2013-04-06 2013 /pmc/articles/PMC3756856/ /pubmed/23564226 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10493-013-9692-8 Text en © The Author(s) 2013 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits any use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and the source are credited.
spellingShingle Article
Więcek, Mariusz
Martin, Peter
Gąbka, Maciej
Distribution patterns and environmental correlates of water mites (Hydrachnidia, Acari) in peatland microhabitats
title Distribution patterns and environmental correlates of water mites (Hydrachnidia, Acari) in peatland microhabitats
title_full Distribution patterns and environmental correlates of water mites (Hydrachnidia, Acari) in peatland microhabitats
title_fullStr Distribution patterns and environmental correlates of water mites (Hydrachnidia, Acari) in peatland microhabitats
title_full_unstemmed Distribution patterns and environmental correlates of water mites (Hydrachnidia, Acari) in peatland microhabitats
title_short Distribution patterns and environmental correlates of water mites (Hydrachnidia, Acari) in peatland microhabitats
title_sort distribution patterns and environmental correlates of water mites (hydrachnidia, acari) in peatland microhabitats
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3756856/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23564226
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10493-013-9692-8
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