A comparative study on the diversity, distribution and abundance of acari population in natural and reclaimed habitat

Acari are among the most commonly available diverse fauna consisting of various species.They serve as biological indicators of soil quality.They also indicate habitat disturbance and level of mitigation strategies.A comparative study on Acari population was done on soil samples of reclaimed forest at Ghatotand coal mining area and natural forest with respect to its distribution, diversity and seasonal abundance pattern to understand their role in reclamation accomplishment.For better understanding of seasonality pattern correlation between various edaphic factors was also observed.Significant positive correlation was observed between moisture and organic carbon content both at natural (0.8806) and reclaimed (0.6382) forest.Ten species of Acari were found at both natural and reclaimed forest.Rhagidia sp. was found to be the most abundant species at both natural and reclaimed forest while Caloglyphus sp. was least abundant.The species diversity of natural forest was comparatively higher yet a considerable decline was observed in summer season.Monsoon peak and summer decline in population was observed at both the forests.Seasonal abundance of various Acari followed similar pattern yet a considerable difference in community structure was observed.The population fluctuation of Acari in summer season was higher at reclaimed forest than that of natural forest.