EGE 12TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON APPLIED SCIENCES
ALTITUDE AND HABITAT PREFERENCES OF ZERCONID MITES (ACARI: ZERCONIDAE) IN THE HONAZ MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK, TÜRKİYE
Yayıncı:
Academy Global Publishing House
Mites, one of the microscopic living groups in the soil ecosystem, have important roles such as humus formation and stimulation of fungal and bacterial metabolism. In this study, the altitude and habitat preferences of zerconids, one of the well-known mite families from Türkiye, were investigated in Honaz Mountain National Park. This protected area is one of the 49 national parks in our country and the Zerconidae fauna of the area was determined by us in 2010. Three of them are from the genus Prozercon (P. celali, P. denizliensis, P. tragardhi) and eight are from the genus Zercon (Z. alattini, Z. ayyildizi, Z. colligans, Z. denizliensis, Z. honazicus, Z. huseyini, Z. kallimcii, Z. mehmeturhani) which were previously recorded by us from the area. Although systematic and taxonomic studies on zerconids are prominent worldwide, ecological data belonging to this group are quite limited. In this context, the altitude and habitat preferences of all zerconid mites reported from Honaz Mountain National Park are presented in this study. It was understood that 365 biological materials were collected from 161 different localities in the area between November 2008 and July 2009. The samplings were done from 24 different habitat types and altitude ranges between 490 and 2500 meters in the study area. The relevant data were matched with the zerconid species recorded from the study area. As a result, it was predicted that zerconids have various altitude and habitat preferences. More detailed studies are needed to better understand the distribution of zerconids in different soil ecosystems from an ecological perspective. This study is aimed to contribute to the ecology of zerconids.
