Oribatid mite species numbers increase, densities decline and parthenogenetic species suffer during bog degradation.

This study compared the oribatid mites in two natural and four industrially exploited bogs. One natural bog (Zakręt, Z) was located in northeastern Poland and the other one (Toporowy Staw Niżni, TSN), in southern Poland. The four exploited bogs were also located in southern Poland and can be ranked from least to most degraded as follows: Łysa Puścizna (LP), Baligówka (B), Puścizna Mała (PM) and Kaczmarka (K). In the natural bogs, the water pH was higher than in the degraded ones, but other parameters were lower (conductivity, colour value, oxygen demand, and concentration of chlorides). In the natural bogs, the Oribatida were highly abundant (average density was 169,100 ind./m(2)), but with low species diversity and one dominating species. In bog Z the most abundant was Limnozetes foveolatus that had dominance of 75 % and in bog TSN, located at higher altitude, Trimalaconothrus maior dominated (73 %). In two degraded bogs that had still good water conditions (LP and B) the oribatid communities resembled those from the natural bogs; in LP the most abundant species was Hydrozetes lacustris and in bog B, L. foveolatus. In contrast, in two more degraded bogs (PM and K) the abundance of mites was lower (average density was 17,850 ind./m(2)), species diversity of the Oribatida was higher, and no species achieved a high dominance like in the natural bogs. Additionally, in more degraded bogs the abundance of parthenogenetic species was lower than in the natural bogs.