Seasonal fluctuation of oribatid mite communities in forest microhabitats

Abstract

Oribatid mites are abundant and diverse decomposers in almost all terrestrial microhabitats, especially in temperate forests. Although their functional importance in the decomposition system in these forests has been investigated, spatio-temporal patterns of oribatid mite communities inhabiting different microhabitats have largely been neglected. Therefore, we (i) investigated seasonal fluctuation (monthly over one year) in oribatid-mite community structure and specificity to three microhabitats (moss, dead wood and litter) and (ii) analyzed the influence of air temperature and overall air humidity on seasonal community changes. In total, 57,398 adult oribatid mite individuals were collected. Total abundance, species richness and diversity differed among microhabitats. Seasonal changes were most pronounced in moss and least in litter. While overall air humidity had no influence on species distribution and community changes, air temperature positively influenced species richness and diversity, again most pronounced in moss. The calculated environmental temperature occurrence niche showed that 35% of adult oribatid mite species occurred at higher air temperatures. Furthermore, interaction/bipartite networks were more generalized- i.e., species were more equally distributed among moss, dead wood and litter-when ambient air temperatures were higher. This pattern is probably due to the dispersal ability of adult oribatid mites, i.e., species enter a dispersal mode only at higher air temperatures.