Abstract:
The present study is an overview of the fauna and structure of the oribatid communities in the main types of ecosystems
from the Central Moldavian Plateau, in order to highlight the extent to which land use and habitats’ peculiarities are
reflected within these edaphic coenoses. Investigations have shown that in forest ecosystems oribatid fauna is richest
and most diverse in terms of taxonomy, compared to other types of ecosystems, the variety of trophic resources and the
multitude of ecological niches in forest soils explaining these differences. Zoogeographical spectrum analysis of
oribatid fauna evidences the growing weight of cosmopolitan species, from forests and plantations to agro-ecosystems
and pastures. It was also noted that species with southern distribution are less represented in forest ecosystems, while in
the soil of agricultural crops and pastures their share is higher. Regarding the ecological spectrum, it was found that
forest species have the highest weight in the natural forests, grassland species - in meadows, but also in forest
plantations, while the proportion of eurytopic elements is the highest in agro-ecosystems and pastures. Xerophilous and
meso-xerophilous species are well represented in the whole fauna, but especially in grassland ecosystems, which
indicate that forest preserves a less arid microclimate with lower oscillations of temperature and humidity. Analysis of
the edifying species’ distribution in the considered ecosystems, based on their representativity revealed several distinct
species groups in terms of preferences to a particular type of habitat, which illustrates the selectivity of oribatids in
relation to bio-edaphic conditions and their bio-indicator value.
