| Seasonal Changes in Oribatid Mites Population on the Banks of the Karun River |
| Paper ID : 1085-IPCA4 (R1) |
| Authors |
|
Zahra Arab yabarati * Ahvaz,khoozestan,Iran |
| Abstract |
| Oribatid mites are one of the most abundant groups of ground-dwelling mesofauna that have an important role in the decomposition of organic matter, food chain and soil formatting. They can be found in almost any terrestrial habitat all over the world and are characterized by great species richness and great number of individuals. In spite of this fact, little is known about their behaviour on community level and their spatial and temporal pattern in different habitats of the world. In our present study, the seasonal change of oribatid mite population was analysed on the bank of the Karun river, the largest river in Iran. The seasonal abundance of oribatid mites on the bank was determined by collecting soil samples in intervals of a month and a half, extracting oribatid mites from the soil samples, and identification and enumerating the oribatid mites present in the samples. The entire duration of sample collection was from March 2013 through March 2014. In this study, 6 families and 7 species belonging to Cryptostigmata order were collected. This study shows high biodiversity of soil invertebrates and their importance in protecting ecosystem biodiversity, especially on the banks of the Karun river. The identified families included Epilohmannidae, Euphthiracaridae, Lohmannidae, Oribatulidae, Oppiidae, and Parhypochthoniidae. Most oribatid mite families were generally found in the investigated habitat but their abundance was unequal, fluctuating over the year. Among the four seasons, the abundance of oribatid families was significantly more during autumn as compared to other seasons. Two peaks of abundance, one in autumn and the other in spring, were recognised. The autumn peak was clearer that the one in spring. The lowest population was observed in most families during the summer. In summer, the reduced abundance of all species is because of the high heat in this season, in contrast with the autumn and the winter when the population and variety of mites are increased. In this study, Oribatulidae had the highest population and the Parhypochthoniidae had the lowest population levels during the year. |
| Keywords |
| Seasonal -Population - oribatid- karun |
| Status: Abstract Accepted (Poster Presentation) |