Population Study and Community Structure of Oribatid Mites in the Subtropical Forest Ecosystem at Koirengei, Manipur

摘要

Oribatid mites (Cryptostigmata) constitute a very significant component of forest ecosystem where they play important role in the decomposition process and in the maintenance of soil fertility. The present investigation has been carried out in two forest sites in the sub-tropical forest ecosystem at Koirengei, Manipur. The soil oribatid mites were extracted from three different soil depths i.e. 0-5, 5-10 and 10-15cm by using modified Tullgreen funnels. The population density of oribatid mites decreased with the increase of soil depths in both the study sites in different seasons. The values of Sorensen's Quotient of community similarity of oribatids between the two study sites in different soil layers ranges from 25-89% and were found to be regulated with different microclimatic conditions of the soil.