Published in Scientific Papers. Series D. Animal Science, Vol. LXVII, Issue 1
Written by Minodora MANU, Roxana Georgiana NICOARĂ, Luiza Silvia CHIRIAC (MIHAI), Anca Rovena LĂCĂTUŞU, Marilena ONETE
Soil mites have been used as bioindicators at local, regional or even at national scales. The present study demonstrated that soil microhabitats are characterised by different structural patterns of soil mite populations. This study was conducted in August 2021, in two types of grassland ecosystems (intensely grazed and moderately grazed with sheep) in the Făgăraş Mountains- Romania. At the local spatial scale, 10 transects were established in each grassland. In total 200 soil samples were analysed, revealing the presence of 33 soil mite species, with 93 individuals. Dominant species were Gaeolaelaps nolli and Gaeolaelaps aculeifer. The population characteristics were analysed for each transect and each grassland, using the following indices: taxa diversity, numerical abundance, dominance, evenness, equitability, Shannon-Wiener index of diversity, Bray-Curtis index of Similarity. Making a comparison, in the moderately grazed grassland the species diversity and the numerical density were higher than those from intensely grazed ecosystem.
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