Published in Scientific Papers. Series D. Animal Science, Vol. LVIII
Written by Minodora MANU, Marilena ONETE, Virgil IORDACHE
The study was made in 2013 - 2014, in Trascău Mountains, situated in the south-eastern part of the Apuseni Mountains (Western Carpathians), in their southern limit, represented by the Ampoi valley. In order to determine the mite diversity, 300 soil samples were investigated from twelve grassland ecosystems, taking into account the pollution level source (an old chimney plant, which provided heavy metals pollutants: As, Cu, Zn, Pb, Mn, Ni). The altitude of grasslands varied from 464 m to 958 m, and the distance from pollution source from 975 m to 3200 m. In total, 4447 individuals were counted, belonging to the following mite orders: Trombidiformes (5.42 %), Sarcoptiformes (72.65 %) and Mesostigmata (21.92 %). In order to assess the diversity aspects of edaphically mites, a comparative analyse was made between the natural and anthropogenic ecosystems. The highest mite diversity was recorded in natural area (grassland G12 - on 3146.52 m distance from pollution source), with 639 individuals, belonging to the 14 mite families and Shannon_H index by 1.412. On the opposite is grassland G9 (on 1311.65 m distance from pollution source), with 253 individuals from 8 families and Shannon_H index by 0.573. Dominant mites were oribatids, decomposers of the organic matter, followed by the mesostigmatids (mostly represented by Ascidae, Laelapidae and Rhodacaridae families, which are predators). The similarity of mite presence and composition was assessed using Jaccard and respectively Bray-Curtis dendrograms. Evidence from Shannon evenness, Shannon-Weaver diversity and Simpson dominance indexes indicate that in the areas with a low taxa diversity, there is a dominance of few species with individuals unequally distributed between plots.Each investigated grassland ecosystems were characterized by characteristically mite diversity. This study represents a valuable argument for using the soil mite fauna as bioindicators.
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