0000000000253504

AUTHOR

Ritva Penttinen

Hämähäkkieläimet : Arachnida

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A molecular-based identification resource for the arthropods of Finland

Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Authors. Molecular Ecology Resources published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. To associate specimens identified by molecular characters to other biological knowledge, we need reference sequences annotated by Linnaean taxonomy. In this study, we (1) report the creation of a comprehensive reference library of DNA barcodes for the arthropods of an entire country (Finland), (2) publish this library, and (3) deliver a new identification tool for insects and spiders, as based on this resource. The reference library contains mtDNA COI barcodes for 11,275 (43%) of 26,437 arthropod species known from Finland, including 10,811 (45%) of 23,956 insect species. To quantify the…

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Oribatid mites (Acari: Oribatida) in boreal forest floor and decaying wood

Summary We studied the oribatid mite communities in forest floor and in decaying wood in pine (Pinus sylvestris), spruce (Picea abies) and deciduous (mainly Betula pendula and B. pubescens) forests at different latitudes in Finland. The study sites were either in mature managed forests or in old-growth forests in nature reserves. Altogether 78 sites were sampled in 2004 and 2005, yielding a total of 38,145 oribatid mites belonging to 133 species, of which four were new to Finland. Oribatid mite communities differed in terms of total number and community structure between forest types and latitudes within the boreal forest zone. The most abundant and diverse communities were in spruce forest…

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Impacts of elevated CO2 and temperature on the soil fauna of boreal forests

Abstract Responses of dominant soil decomposer animals in northern coniferous forests, enchytraeids and microarthropods, to elevated CO 2 concentration and temperature were studied by sampling an experiment consisting of closed field chambers with a ground area of 5.9 m 2 . Six species of enchytraieds were found in the study, with Cognettia sphagnetorum comprising 87% of all individuals. The treatments did not significantly affect the numbers of C. sphagnetorum . No treatment induced changes were found in oribatid mites, but numbers of acaridid mites were lowest in the chambers with elevated CO 2 concentration and in those with elevated temperature. The chambers had lower densities of actin…

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Wood ant nest mounds as biodiversity hotspots: Case studies with oribatid mites

The red wood ant (Formica) nest mounds form in forest landscape diversity hotspots by hosting large amount of invertebrate ant associates. The most numerous associate group, the soil-dwelling oribatid mites, have however remained rather unstudied due to their minute size and lack of taxonomic experts. Few studies conducted in Finland have recently lighted up the oribatid’s diversity in ant mounds. First, our study based on 10,600 specimens and 74 identified species, showed that the wood ant F. polyctena nest mounds were inhabited by an equally abundant and diverse oribatid fauna as the surrounding soil. Moreover, the results revealed that predominantly different species inhabited these two …

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