Relation between Fauna of Soil Mites (Oribatei) and Human Impacts in Four Main Natural Forest Regions in Kanagawa Prefecture, Central Japan

The community structure of soil mites (Oribatei) was investigated in connection with vegetationsin the central part of Japan. As a whole, mite density and OA-index (Oribatei/Acari×100) were higher in natural forests than in secondary forests, while the species number of Oribatei as well as plants was higher in the secondary than in the natural forests. All the values mentioned above became lower in grasslands and lowest in artificial bare lands. Community analysis based on the dominant species of Oribatei failed to detect any relation between oribatid and plant communities. However, another method as that in phytosociology was successful in finding several species groups of the oribatids which have a close connection with plant communities, forest regions or vegetation types.Contributions from the Department of Vegetation Science, Institute of Environmental Science and Technology, Yokohama Natlonal University No.4