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You are here: Home / Associated publications / Belgian Journal of Zoology / Bibliographic References / Habitat comparison of Mideopsis orbicularis (O. F. Muller, 1776) and M. crassipes Soar, 1904 (Acari: Hydrachnidia) in the Krapiel River

Andrzej Zawal, Przemyslaw Smietana, Edyta Stepien, Vladimir Pesic, Magdalena Klosowska, Grzegorz Michonski, Aleksandra Bankowska, Piotr Dabkowski, and Robert Stryjecki (2015)

Habitat comparison of Mideopsis orbicularis (O. F. Muller, 1776) and M. crassipes Soar, 1904 (Acari: Hydrachnidia) in the Krapiel River

BELGIAN JOURNAL OF ZOOLOGY, 145(2):95-102.

Ecological studies of water mites have a very long tradition. However, no explicit data have been obtained to date with regard to specific ecological parameters defining autoecological values for particular species, and therefore such values have not been compared between closely related species. The present study is an attempt at making such comparisons between two closely related species: Mideopsis orbicularis and Mideopsis crassipes. Both species are psammophilous; M. orbicularis prefers stagnant waters, while M. crassipes prefers running waters. The research was conducted during 2010 in 89 localities distributed along the Krapiel River and in water reservoirs found in its valley. The two species were collected solely in the river, where they were found in 26 localities and only these localities were analyzed. Until now M. crassipes was characterized as a species preferring rather fast-flowing habitats, and M. orbicularis as preferring slow water habitats, i.e. isolated still-water bodies. In this study both species preferred slow flow water habitats: 77.5\% (225 individuals) of all M. orbicularis specimens and 67.3\% (318 individuals) of all M. crassipes specimens were collected in isolated still-water bodies. The only correlations identified between water mite occurrence and water quality were the positive one between the abundance of M. orbicularis and water temperature, the negative one between the abundance of this species and BOD5. There were also some correlations with substrate, including the positive correlation between occurrence of M. crassipes and sandy bottom. M. orbicularis was also encountered on organic bottoms and among water plants.

water mites; bottom; BOD5; oxygen; temperature
  • ISSN: 0777-6276
BJZ

ISSN 2295-0451 (online version)
ISSN 0777-6279 (printed version)
impact factor 2015: 0,87.

Editor-in-Chief:
Prof. Dr. Isa Schön
Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences
Vautierstraat 29
1000 Brussels, Belgium

 



1863-1903
Annales de la Société malacologique de Belgique
 
1903-1923
​Annales de la Société royale malacologique et zoologique de Belgique
 
1923-1989
Annales de la Société Royale Zoologique de Belgique
 
1989-
Belgian Journal of Zoology