Ecology and Classification of North American Freshwater Invertebrates.
Water mites are among the most abundant and diverse benthic arthropods in many habitats.
One square metre of substratum from littoral weed beds in eutrophic lakes may contain as many as 2000 deutonymphs and adults representing up to 75 species in 25 or more genera. Mites have coevolved with some of the dominant insect groups in freshwater ecosystems, especially nematocerous Diptera, and interact intimately with these insects at all stages of their life histories. Species of water mites are specialized to exploit narrow ranges of physical and chemical regimes, as well as the particular biologic attributes of the organisms they parasitize and prey upon. Preliminary studies of physicochemical and pollution ecology of the relatively well-known fauna of Europe have demonstrated that water mites are excellent indicators of habitat quality. The results of these studies, along with observations in sampling a wide variety of habitats in North America and elsewhere, lead to the conclusion that water mite diversity is dramatically reduced in habitats that have been degraded by chemical pollution or physical disturbance.