Abstract
The effects of three tillage practices (plowing, chisel plowing, and springtine cultivation) on soil mites were evaluated in a replicated field experiment. Mean mite abundance in the control plot was 15 013 ind./m 2, comprising 1339 Uropodina, 6321 Gamasina, 1174 Astigmata and 6179 Oribatida. Significant effects of soil cultivation were confined to the sampling date immediately after the first tillage treatment. At that time acarine numbers were reduced by more than 50% by tillage, the adverse effects of springtine cultivation in deeper soil layers being less than those of the other tillage treatments. Different groups of Acari were affected differently by tillage, with Oribatida reacting sensitively to the plow and Gamasina to the chisel plow. No differential effects on Uropodina or Astigmata could be found. No species-specific response patterns were detected among oribatid mites, but the adverse effects of soil cultivation on microphytophagous species were particularly strong, with no significant differences between tillage treatments. No size-dependent effect could be established.
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