Diversity and community structure of oribatid mites (Acari: Oribatida) in the dominant habitats of Machakhela National Park (Georgia, Caucasus)

Oribatid mite communities were investigated at six sites of Machakhela National Park (West part of Georgia) in two representative habitat types: Alder (Alnus barbata) forest and mixed forest with chestnut (Castanea Sativa), beech (Fagus orientalis) and hornbeam (Carpinus sp.). A total of 81 species of Oribatid mites were identified from investigated area. One species of Oribatid mites - Ctenobelba (Caucasiobelba) urhani Baran, 2015 and subgenus Caucasiobelba Subías and Shtanchaeva, 2010 are recorded for the first time from Georgia. In the proposed publication, we also present several species of Ptyctimous mites that are omitted in the recently published annotated checklists of Georgian Oribatid mites, so the number of the moss mites registered in the country's territory increased and become 572. The results of our study clearly demonstrated the existence of the difference in the Oribatid mite diversity of the lowland forests of Adjara distributed in the protected area of the Machakhela National Park. The cluster analysis separated mite populations of alder and Colchis mixed broadleaf forests. The results of one-way ANOVA indicated that the species abundance was the most insignificant factor in comparison with the species richness, Shannon index, and evenness which had the stronger power in the separation of the mite population by the forest habitats. The results of the SIMPER analysis ranked nine species of mites responsible for the difference in the mite population diversities in the studied forest habitats. These species do not belong to the category of abundant species however they are strongly associated with each target forest habitat. Our study provides the checklist of Oribatid mites registered on study sites. It includes 81 species from 53 genera, 40 families and 27 Superfamilies.