OBJECTIVE To study the impacts of abundance of woodlice, termites, and mites on some functional aspects of soil in order to elucidate the specific role of soil fauna in improving soil fertility in desert. METHODS Fauna-rich sites were selected as experimental sites and adjacent areas were taken as control. Soil samples were collected from both sites. Soil respiration was measured at both site...

Global environmental changes affect not only the aboveground but also the belowground components of ecosystems. The effects of seasonal drought and air warming on the genus level richness of Collembola, and on the abundance and biomass of the community of Collembola and mites were studied in an acidic and a calcareous forest soil in a model oak-ecosystem experiment (the Querco experiment) at th...

The paper is devoted to the fauna of oribatid mites (Acari: Oribatida) mostly of a plain area of the Southern European Russia. The most updated taxonomic list of oribatid mite taxa compiled from the original authors' data collected after sam- pling soil, nests and plumage of birds, as well as published sources is presented. It includes 256 species of oribatid mites belonging to 72 families. Twe...

SHEW, H. D., and M. K. BEUTE. 1979. Evidence for the involvement of soilborne mites in Pythium pod rot of peanut. Phytopathology 69:204-207. Mites of the genus Caloglyphus (Acarina: Acaridae) were associated with obtained from 90% of the fecal pellets collected from C. micheali after more than 50% of decaying peanut pods collected in a field in which pod rot feeding on mycelial mats of the fung...

High-altitude and alpine areas are predicted to experience rapid and substantial increases in future temperature, which may have serious impacts on soil carbon, nutrient and soil fauna. Here we report the impact of 20 years of experimental warming on soil properties and soil mites in three contrasting plant communities in alpine/subarctic Sweden. Long-term warming decreased juvenile oribatid mi...

Climate change will result in reduced soil water availability in much of the world either due to changes in precipitation or increased temperature and evapotranspiration. How communities of mites and nematodes may respond to changes in moisture availability is not well known, yet these organisms play important roles in decomposition and nutrient cycling processes. We determined how communities ...

in this investigation an attempt has been made to study the species composition, distribution and seasonal fluctuation of acarine community (arachnida: acari) in two undisturbed and well-vegetated plots located within padmaja naidu himalayan zoolo-gical park, darjeeling, india. the study continued for three consecutive years (january to december 1999–2001) revealed the presence of 10 acarine ge...

BACKGROUND "The enigma of soil animal species diversity" was the title of a popular article by J. M. Anderson published in 1975. In that paper, Anderson provided insights on the great richness of species found in soils, but emphasized that the mechanisms contributing to the high species richness belowground were largely unknown. Yet, exploration of the mechanisms driving species richness has fo...