| Similarity, abundance and species diversity of oribatid mites (Acari: Oribatida) in orchards of East Azerbaijan province, Iran |
| Paper ID : 1095-3IICE (R1) |
| Authors: |
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Maryam Rahgozar *1, karim haddad Irani-Nejad2, Mohamad-reza Zargaran3, Alireza Saboori4 1Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran 21- Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran 3Department of Forestry, Faculty of Natural Resources, University of Urmia, Iran 4Plant Protection dept., Tehran Univ |
| Abstract: |
| Oribatid mites are one of the richest acarine groups that occur in soil, litter, moss, lichen, and rarely aquatic environments. They are actively involved in decomposition of organic matters, in nutrient cycling and in soil formation with a global distribution with taxonomical and morphological diverse. A study was initiated on oribatid mite communities (Acari: Oribatida) in orchards of five regions (Ahar, Kaleibar, Varzaghan, Heris and Horand) in East Azerbaijan province. Soil samples (canopy area) were taken Monthly during May to October in 2015. Mites were extracted using a Berlese funnel, cleared in Nesbitt’s fluid and mounted on microscope slides using Hoyer’s medium. Slides were kept in an oven at 45−50°C for about 3-4 weeks. In this study, 75 species belonging to 57 genera, 38 families of oribatid mites were collected and identified. Abundance of species was calculated for orchards and fields. In the studied regions, Protoribates (P.) paracapucinus had the highest abundance. Similarity (Jaccard similarity index) between studied regions, Simpson diversity index and Simpson evenness were calculated for all the samples with the Ecological Methodology software (ver 6.0). Data analysis was performed using SPSS 18 software. The mean comparison (95% confidence levels) with One–way ANOVA showed that Varzaghan had the highest Simpson evenness (0.568) among studied regions, while Kaleibar had the highest species diversity (0.865). The highest similarity was calculated between Kaleibar–Ahar (0.57) and Kaleibar–Horand (0.56), while Kaleibar and Varzaghan had the lowest similarity (0.25). It seems that, geographical and climate difference between studied regions caused these results. Specimens are deposited in the Acarology Laboratory, Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran. |
| Keywords: |
| Sarcoptiformes, Acariformes, diversity, similarity, abundance |
| Status : Paper Accepted (Poster Presentation) |
