Spatial patterns and local diversity in soil oribatid mites (Acari: Oribatida) in three pine plantation forests

Abstract

The study investigates diversity patterns in communities of soil oribatid mites (Acari: Oribatida) in three pine plantation forests in New Zealand. The distribution patterns at the metacommunity level were analyzed as the decay in community similarity as a function of intersample distance. The local diversity was analysed at the soil core level.Oribatida communities were characterized by high local diversity coupled with high degree of dominance in local distribution of abundances, and by spatially structured metacommunities, with high species turnover and significant distance decay in species presence/absence at all sampled distances. In all three sites community assemblages were spatially autocorrelated. In two sites the spatial dependence was present at all sampled distances. In the third site spatial autocorrelation in community structure existed at separation distances below approx. 40 m.The observed patterns appear to be consistent with ecological drift and stochastic model of community assembly under assumption of low dispersal, although there is some indication that spatial heterogeneity in habitat quality contributes to the species distribution. The results suggest that Oribatida communities separated by distances as large as 60 m may not be spatially independent. Soil cores collected within such vicinity should not be used as independent examples of community response to environmental factors, and should not be treated as independent replicates in statistical analysis.