Changes in Forest Stand and Stability of Uropodine Mites Communities (Acari: Parasitiformes) in Jakubowo Nature Reserve in the Light of Long-Term Research

The current study has been conducted for over 40 years (between 1981 and 2022) in a natural forest reserve in Jakubowo (western Poland). The material for the analysis was collected in three permanent monitoring ground plots with different vegetation cover, humidity and degree of shade. The major aim of the study was to analyze the changes in the species composition and abundance in uropodine (Acari: Parasitiformes) mite communities that occurred in the three ground plots in Jakubowo over 40 years. The second goal was to assess the stability of the species composition and the number of Uropodina mites in the examined communities. The most important phenomenon observed during the research period was a considerable decrease in the abundance of Uropodina in ground litter and soil, and the second was the loss of stenotopic and rare species. Similar observations are also presented in previous studies, which embraced 36 years of research period (between 1978 and 2013). Now, this unfavorable trend, which is caused by anthropogenic disturbances in the environment, has become permanent.