Seasonal patterns of lotic water mite assemblages

Despite their widespread diversity and abundance, water mites are understudied in many parts of the world. While previous literature has primarily emphasized taxonomy and distribution, several recent studies have found that water mite communities can be used as bioindicators of water quality conditions. Thus, there has been a push to explore strategies to incorporate them into global biomonitoring efforts. If the use of water mites as bioindicators is to become more widespread, it is important that we understand how seasonality influences their abundance in aquatic ecosystems. This study examines how populations of water mites in central Pennsylvania vary throughout the year. We sampled nine different sites every other month between August 2021 and August 2022. In total, we collected 8,471 individual water mites representing 14 genera, 9 families, and 5 superfamilies. Similar to studies conducted in Europe, our results indicate that while water mites can be collected year-round, abundance peaks in the summer between June and August, making this an ideal timeframe to focus collection efforts.