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Is it worth paying attention to actinedid mites in agricultural fields?

Actinedid mites are usually very tiny, barely noticeable even with a stereomicroscope in a sample. For this or other reasons, very few researchers study them. However, in agricultural fields they may be the most abundant members of the soil-dwelling fungivorous and saprophagous microarthropod group. During our research in Martonvásár, Őrbottyán and Nagyhörcsök, we noticed that certain groups of these small mites show recurring temporal patterns. Endeostigmata had higher abundances in summer, and Heterostigmata were always present in greater numbers in autumn, regardless of the year, soil type and plant cover. The explanatory variables examined suggest that these changes are related to the moisture and nitrogen content of the soil. Unfortunately, the ecology of these tiny animals is largely unknown, but these results also show that it is worth paying more attention to them in the future.

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