Influence of Soil Salinity on the Population of Oribatid Mites in the Forest-Steppe Zone of Western Siberia

Abstract

The research was performed in the center of the Baraba Plain. It was demonstrated that soil salinity exerts a considerable effect on oribatid mites. Several stages of changes in the population of oribatid mites upon soil evolution on the dried bottom of salt lake in the forest-steppe zone of Western Siberia were identified. At the stage of solonchakous meadow soils (Mollic Gleysols (Salic)), oribatid mites formed a multi-species low-number group. At the stage of medium-deep solonetzes (Gleyic Solonetzes) and chernozemic meadow soils (Luvic Chernozems), the species richness and abundance of oribatid mites increased by about 2–3.5 times. The appeared species were sensitive to high soil salinity and could not survive in the meadow soil. Changes in the soil salinity led to changes in the ecological status of species: some of them occupied dominant positions, and others lost them.