TY  - JOUR
JF  - Acarologia
T1  - Seasonal patterns of lotic water mite assemblages
VL  - 65
IS  - 3
SP  - 917
EP  - 926
PY  - 2025
SN  - 0044-586X
SN  - 2107-7207
PB  - Les Amis d'Acarologia
AU  - Stenger, Logan R.
AU  - Ferguson, Francesca M.
AU  - Skvarla, Michael J.
UR  - https://doi.org/10.24349/aixr-puzv
DO  - 10.24349/aixr-puzv
DA  - 2025-09-04
ET  - 2025-09-04
KW  - Hydrachnidia
KW  - Acariformes
KW  - biomonitoring
KW  - bioindicator
KW  - water quality
AB  - Despite their widespread diversity and abundance, water mites are understudied in many parts of the world. While previous literature has primarily emphasized taxonomy and distribution, several recent studies have found that water mite communities can be used as bioindicators of water quality conditions. Thus, there has been a push to explore strategies to incorporate them into global biomonitoring efforts. If the use of water mites as bioindicators is to become more widespread, it is important that we understand how seasonality influences their abundance in aquatic ecosystems. This study examines how populations of water mites in central Pennsylvania vary throughout the year. We sampled nine different sites every other month between August 2021 and August 2022. In total, we collected 8,471 individual water mites representing 14 genera, 9 families, and 5 superfamilies. Similar to studies conducted in Europe, our results indicate that while water mites can be collected year-round, abundance peaks in the summer between June and August, making this an ideal timeframe to focus collection efforts.
ER -