Population dynamics of mites of the family pyroglyphidae and micromycetes in laboratory cultures

Abstract

Original data on the study of the population dynamics in allergenic house dust mites of the family Pyroglyphidae (Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus (Trouessart 1897) and D. farinae Hughes 1961) during long (37 weeks) joint cultivation with the micromycetes Aspergillus penicillioides Speg. in simple periodical cultures without addition of food (SPC) with different initial population density of mites are given. The micromycete A. penicillioides Speg., dominating in laboratory cultures of pyroglyphids, was cultivated in parallel without mites. It was found that during joint cultivation of A. penicillioides and mites, population dynamics of D. pteronyssinus and D. farinae in SPC depended on the initial population density of mites, which affected the duration of mite developmental stages and the degree of the maximal population density. Cultures of D. farinae developed more rapidly than cultures of D. pteronyssinus, independently of the initial population density (50 or 200 specimens per gram of the substrate). A high degree of the initial population density in both mite species resulted in the shortening of the lag-phase, in more rapid reaching of the maximal population density, and in the higher degree of the maximal population density. Population density of the fungus A. penicillioides did not depend on the presence of both mite species. On the basis of our own data and literary analysis, we assume that A. penicillioides can affect the ability of mites to explore the trophic substrate, the rate of the population development, and the degree of their maximal population density. Mites, in their turn, did not significantly affect the development of A. penicillioides in our experiments. © 2011 Pleiades Publishing, Ltd.