Although the ancestral home of chelicerates was the sea, the vast majority of modern species live on land. Most students of spiders and mites also restrict themselves to terrestrial habitats. However, a surprising number of mites (Arachnida: Acari) have returned to a watery existence. Approximately 7000 species from the Mesostigmata, Astigmata, Oribatida, and especially the Prostigmata, now live in marine and freshwater habitats. In Aquatic Mites, a dozen chapters explore the distribution, ecology, behavior, genetics, and evolution of the most diverse of these astonishing arachnids. The results of these studies raise as many interesting questions as they answer, and should provoke more investigations of the biology of freshwater and marine Acari.
Water mites are among the most diverse and abundant groups of benthic macroinvertebrates in the world. With more than 7,500 described species, water mites are known to occur in nearly every known lentic and lotic freshwater environment. In addition, water mites occupy an unusual niche within benthic macroinvertebrate communities as their larvae are parasitic on various invertebrates as hosts. However, despite their relative diversity, abundance, and trophic position, water mites are widely neglected in aquatic biomonitoring assessments. In fact, in most bioassessment protocols water mites are either ignored completely or identified collectively as "Hydrachnidia" or "Hydracarjna", an artificial grouping of several water mite superfamilies. Constraints that may contribute to this widespread neglect include knowledge gaps in basic water mite biology, taxonomy, distribution, and conceptions that water mites are difficult to sample and identify. During this project, I aim to fill these knowledge gaps by identifying lotic water mite communities in central Pennsylvania and determine if and how these assemblages reflect water quality conditions. By sampling 26 sites along polluted and unpolluted, high-quality streams and collecting over 5,000 individual benthic macroinvertebrates and nearly 15,000 water mites, I 1) develop a standardized, quantitative sampling scheme for water mites for biomonitoring purposes, 2) inventory lotic water mite taxa in central Pennsylvania, 3) compare water mite community changes between polluted and unpolluted streams, and 4) document seasonal changes in water mite assemblages. By completing these objectives, I expand our understanding of this unique group of animals and build support for including them in future bioassessment studies.
More than 40,000 species of mites have been described, and up to 1 million may exist on earth. These tiny arachnids play many ecological roles including acting as vectors of disease, vital players in soil formation, and important agents of biological control. But despite the grand diversity of mites, even trained biologists are often unaware of their significance. Mites: Ecology, Evolution and Behaviour (2nd edition) aims to fill the gaps in our understanding of these intriguing creatures. It surveys life cycles, feeding behaviour, reproductive biology and host-associations of mites without requiring prior knowledge of their morphology or taxonomy. Topics covered include evolution of mites and other arachnids, mites in soil and water, mites on plants and animals, sperm transfer and reproduction, mites and human disease, and mites as models for ecological and evolutionary theories.
Inland aquatic habitats occur world-wide at all scales from marshes, swamps and temporary puddles, to ponds, lakes and inland seas; from streams and creeks to rolling rivers. Vital for biological diversity, ecosystem function and as resources for human life, commerce and leisure, inland waters are a vital component of life on Earth. The Encyclopedia of Inland Waters describes and explains all the basic features of the subject, from water chemistry and physics, to the biology of aquatic creatures and the complex function and balance of aquatic ecosystems of varying size and complexity. Used and abused as an essential resource, it is vital that we understand and manage them as much as we appreciate and enjoy them. This extraordinary reference brings together the very best research to provide the basic and advanced information necessary for scientists to understand these ecosystems – and for water resource managers and consultants to manage and protect them for future generations. Encyclopedic reference to Limnology - a key core subject in ecology taught as a specialist course in universitiesOver 240 topic related articles cover the field Gene Likens is a renowned limnologist and conservationist, Emeritus Director of the Institute of Ecosystems Research, elected member of the American Philosophical Society and recipient of the 2001 National Medal of Science Subject Section Editors and authors include the very best research workers in the field
Acarology - the study of mites and ticks, is a subdiscipline of Zoology, and is many times considered in the field of Entomology (the study of insects). Mites and ticks are distributed throughout the world and inhabit almost every ecosystem (both terrestrial and aquatic) including grassland soils. More than 55,000 species of mites and ticks are already described. Mites and ticks directly affects humans as pests of different crops, fruit plants, vegetable crops and field crops; as parasites of human beings, veterinary animals, poultry and pets; pests of stored grains and other products; mushrooms and cheese; and as parasites of honeybees. Mite infestations are responsible for economic losses worth billions of dollars in terms of reduced crop yields and lowered quality of produce. Many species of mites serve as vectors of various plant diseases; some species of ticks cause losses through blood feeding and by transmitting many diseases among man and animals. House-dust mite allergies, and tick bite allergies are also common in many parts of the world.Present Book, "Fundamentals of Applied Acarology," is written keeping in view non-availability of any standard text dealing in different aspects of acarology at one place. Separate chapters in this book are devoted to Importance of Acarology, Historical account, acarine technology, morphology and anatomy of Acari; Feeding, Development and Reproduction. Molecular developments in relation to mites and ticks are also discussed. Role of mites and ticks in Quarantines of plants and animals; forensic/criminal investigations; and importance of accidental acarophagy are discussed in detail. Safe usage of pesticides based on their mode of action (IRAC’s Groups), development of acaricide resistance and measures to mitigate it are discussed. Mite pests of fruit trees, vegetable plants, and floricultural plants; field crops; mite problems in greenhouses/polyhouses; and mite problems encountered under organic cultivation of plants; and their management through minimum usage of pesticides are emphasized. Role of different predaceous mites in controlling plant pests like thrips, aphids and scale insects is elaborately discussed. Biological control of phytophagous mites is discussed in detail. Different animal parasitic mites and ticks are discussed from veterinary and medical point of view.At the end of each chapter, many important references for further reading; and Electronic References (ER) in the form of youtube links and other weblinks are given to understand fully how these tiny creatures look like; behave, feed and reproduce; nature of damage they cause to plants and animals; and measures to mitigate them. Weblinks will stimulate interest in the readers for more information about different mites and ticks. The knowledge contained in the book may prove as best material for "General and Applied Acarology" course for graduate and post-graduate levels, teachers and researchers in entomology, pest control advisors, professional entomologists, pesticide industry managers, policy planners, and others having interest in mites and ticks./div
Written by a globally prominent entomologist, Agricultural Acarology: Introduction to Integrated Mite Management provides tools for developing integrated mite management programs for agriculture, including management of plant-feeding mites, mites attacking bees and livestock, and stored products. Emphasizing the biology, ecology, behavior, and dive
Water mites are a diverse group of arachnids that inhabit aquatic habitats and have been studied in the past for their biodiversity, unique lifecycle, bioindicator species use and for their impact as parasites on insects of human pathological significance such as the mosquito. Water mites are critical in their environment as possible apex predators however, their life cycle and morphological complexity has made taxonomy and description of water mites difficult. Although water mite species richness is estimated at over 6000 species described to date, descriptions of extant North American water mite species are estimated to be only 50% of the existing species. Water mite digestive physiology is also virtually unknown even though water mites are known to be efficient predators and parasites of dipteran pest such as chironomids. With the use of microscopic, biochemical and molecular genetic technologies this work aims to improve water mite knowledge in both digestive physiology and diversity of North American water mite populations. Water mites from Blue Heron Lagoon at Belle Isle, Detroit were collected and processed for assessment of both species diversity and gut molecular contents. Using genetic and morphological methods, water mites and their prey were identified. Water mites in different genera are observed to be generalists as we did not see any water mite genera feeding exclusively on only one type of prey. Gut molecular contents were assessed using primers targeting the COI gene that has been used for molecular barcoding. Dipteran "specific" primers (mLep) were used to elucidate what prey were being consumed. These sequences were obtained by Sanger Sequencing and by Next Generation Sequencing. These sequences were compared to a large database of chironomid species that were generated from the same biogeographic region.
