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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Invasion By Exotic Earthworms Alters Litter- And Soil-Dwelling Oribatid Mites, Jordan L. Burke, John C. Maerz, Joseph Milanovich, Melanie C. Fisk, Kamal J.K. Gandhi
Invasion By Exotic Earthworms Alters Litter- And Soil-Dwelling Oribatid Mites, Jordan L. Burke, John C. Maerz, Joseph Milanovich, Melanie C. Fisk, Kamal J.K. Gandhi
Biology: Faculty Publications and Other Works
Exotic earthworms are drivers of biotic communities in invaded North American forest stands. Here we used ecologically important oribatid mite (Arachnida: Acari) communities, as model organisms to study the responses of litter- and soil-dwelling microarthropod communities to exotic earthworm invasion in a northern temperate forest. Litter- and soil-dwelling mites were sampled in 2008–2009 from forest areas: (1) with no earthworms; (2) those with epigeic and endogeic species, including Lumbricus rubellus Hoffmeister; and (3) those with epigeic, endogeic, and anecic earthworms including L. terrestris L. Species richness and diversity of litter- and soil-dwelling (0–2 cm soil depth) oribatid mites was 1–2 …