ABUNDANCE AND DIVERSITY OF SOIL MITES BENEATH RABBIT CARCASSES ACROSS VARIOUS HABITATS IN PENINSULAR MALAYSIA
Abstract
Studies related to understanding the abundance and diversity of mites from beneath carrion soil is still limited, especially in Malaysia. This study aims to explore mite diversity and abundance in soil beneath rabbit carcasses throughout decomposition stages across various locations. In this study, 12 rabbit carcasses were placed at four different habitats in Malaysia namely forest reserve, highland, rural area, and oil palm plantation. The soil beneath rabbit carcasses were collected at the interval of 3-days (duration of observation was 34-days) and examined for the presence of Acari. The mites were identified to the family level morphologically and their relative abundance (RA), and diversity (richness, Simpson’s Diversity Index, Shannon-Wiener’s Index and Evenness) were calculated. Generally, mites were found to be highly abundant during the advanced decay stage of decomposition in all the four locations. The highest relative abundance of mites observed at advanced decay stage were macrochelids in forest (31.85%), histiostomatids in highland (37.06%), acarids in rural area (35.26%) and oil palm plantation (50.77%). Mite diversity varied across habitats and decomposition stages. During the early stages, the oil palm plantation showed the highest diversity, whereas the forest exhibited greater family richness. In the later stages of decomposition, rural and highland habitats demonstrated higher diversity and evenness, indicating habitat-related differences in mite community structure during carrion decomposition. In summary, the mites retrieved from the soil beneath the decomposing rabbit carcasses present significant potential as indicators for detecting temporary disturbances in various habitats, based on their dynamic patterns of abundance and diversity.
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