Home – Home – Jornals – Contemporary Problems of Ecology 2025 number 3

Due to their high sensitivity to changes in habitat conditions, oribatid mites are a promising bioindicator for assessing the state of ecosystem. The article presents the results of the analysis of all available data (2015-2023) on the diversity and biotope distribution of the oribatid mites in the Lapland Nature Reserve, including material from the Great Scientific Expedition organized with the support of PJSC MMC Norilsk Nickel. The generalized taxonomic list of Oribatida of the Lapland Nature Reserve includes 94 species/subspecies from 55 genera and 31 families, of which 17 species were recorded for the first time in this area, and Protoribotritia oligotricha Märkel, 1963 - in the Kola Peninsula. The greatest diversity was recorded for the families Brachychthoniidae (21 species), Suctobelbidae (13), Oppiidae (9), Carabodidae (6), Crotoniidae and Ceratozetidae (5 species each). The oribatid communities studied formed three clusters: ‘forest’ (pine forests and dwarf shrub tundra); ‘tundra’ (lichen tundras); ‘bog’ (cotton-grass sphagnum bog). The oribatid communities of the ‘forest’ group had the highest similarity of faunas among themselves (35-42 %). The lowest similarity of species composition with other oribatid communities was found for sphagnum bog (8-12 %). In monitoring, in addition to the abundance and alpha-diversity parameters of oribatid mites, attention should be paid to the dominance structure and abundance of eurytopic species (Oppiella nova (Oudemans, 1902) and Tectocepheus velatus (Michael, 1880)), which may serve as additional indicators of habitat change. The results obtained are an important step in establishing the basis and in the future forming long-term data series that will allow monitoring the condition of the areas of the Lapland Nature Reserve, identifying and tracking trends.