60 SHORT COMMUNICATIONS VOL. 39, NO. 1 ogia de los bosquesnativos de Chile. Editorial Univ., REYES,C. 1992. Clave para la identificaci6n de los 6rde- Santiago,Chile. nes de aves chilenas: microestructura de los nodos de -- •t•,•DL.A. GONZAI•EZ.1986. Regulation of numbers las b•trbulas.M.S. thesis,Univ. Lagos,Osorno, Chile in two neotropical rodent speciesin southern Chile. SHULL,A.M. 1986. Final rule; listing of the Aplomado Rev. Chil. Hist. Nat. 59:193-200. Falcon as endangered. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, PERSON, O. 1995. Annotated keys for identifying small Federal Register 51:6686-6690, Washington, DC mammals living in or near Nahuel Huapi National U.S.A. Park or Lanin National Park, southern Argentina. SILVEI•, L., A.T.A. J•COMO, EH.G. RODmGU•S,^ND P.G. Mastozool.Neotrop. 2:99-148. C•WSH^W,J•t.1997. Hunting associationbetween the P•F4^, L. 1986. Introducci6n a los insectos de Chile. Ed- Aplomado Falcon (Falcofemoralis)and the maned wolf itorial Univ., Santiago,Chile. (Chrysocyonbrachyurus) in EmasNational Park, central PgP,ZZ, cJ., PJ. ZW^NI•,•t•,•D D.W. SMITH.1996. Survival, Brazil. Condor 99:201-202. movements,and habitat use of Aplomado Falconsre- TREJO, A., S. SEIJ^S,aND M. SAHORES.2003. Liolaemus h- leasedin southernTexas. J. RaptorRes. 27:175-182. neomaculatuspredation. Herpetol. Rev. 34:145. REPOBLICADE CHILE.1996. Ley de CazaN ø 19473:Diario W^LT•P,S,J.R. 1990. Anti-predatorybehavior of lapwings' oficial, 4 de septiembrede 1996. Ministerio de Agri- field evidence of discriminate abilities. Wilson Bull cultura, Santiago,Chile. 102:49-70. --. 1998. Reglamento de la Ley de Caza, D.S. N Q5, Diario Oficial, 7 de diciembre de 1998. Ministerio de Received13 February 2004; accepted6 September2004 Agricultura, Santiago, Chile. Associate Editor: Michael I. Goldstein j RaptorRes. 39(1):60-65 ¸ 2005 The Raptor ResearchFoundation, Inc. MESOSTIGMATICMITES (AcAm: MESOSTIGMATA)IN WHITE-TAILED SEA EAGLENESTS ( HALIAF•TUSALBICILLA ) DAmUSZJ. GWIAZDOW•CZ• Departmentof Forest and EnvironmentProtection, August Cieszkowski Agricultural University, ul. WojskaPolskiego 71c, 60-625 Poznan, Poland JERZYBLOSZYK Departmentof Animal Taxonomyand Ecology,Adam Mickiewicz University, ul. Szamarzewskiego91A, 60-569 Poznan, Poland TADEUSZ MIZERA Departmentof Zoology,August Cieszkowski Agricultural University, ul. WojskaPolskiego 71c, 60-625 Poznan, Poland PIOTR TRYJANOWSKI Departmentof BehaviouraIEcology, Adam MickiewiczUniversity, ul. Umultowska89, 61-614 Poznan, Poland KEY WORDS: White-tailedSea Eagle;, Haliaeetus albicilla; quate. Recently,the acarofaunaof small passerinenests nestbiology; mites; Mesostigmata; Poland. have been studied including detailed studies on Great Reed Warbler (Acrocephalusarundinaceus), Reed Warbler Although studieson mites living in bird nestswere first (A. scirpaceus),Penduline Tit (Remizpendulinus),and Red- carried out 70 yr ago (Nordberg 1936), knowledgeon backed Shrike (Lanius collurio;Matan and Kri•tofik 1995, mite communities in this microhabitat is largely inade- Kriitofik et al. 2001, Tryjanowskiet al. 2001). However, information about mites occurring in bird nests is still fragmentary,especially in reference to the acarofaunaof 1Emaih [email protected] raptor nests (e.g., Philips 1981, 2000, Philips et al. 1983, MARCH 2005 SHORT COMMUNiGATiONS 61 Gwiazdowicz et al. 1999, 2000, Gwiazdowicz and Mizera assemblagewere calculatedand tested according to Ma- 2OO2). guran (1988). The collected mites were deposited in the In contrastto passerines,many raptor speciesuse their Invertebrates Databank (Department of Animal Taxono- my and Ecology,Adam MickiewiczUniversity, Poznan, Po- nestsfor severalsuccessive years, which allow communi- land). ties of invertebratesto develop.In addition, the relatively long period over which raptor nestsare used allowsfor RESULTS AND DISCUSSION temporal changesin acarofaunacomposition and popu- lation dynamicsto be observed.Here, we comparedthe Mite communities recorded in the two nests differed compositionof the mite communityof the order Meso- from one another both in generic composition and rel- stigmataoccurring in two different nestsof White-tailed ative abundanceof mite species(Table 1). Those differ- SeaEagle (Haliaeetusalbicilla) in Polandover 6 yr (1997- enceswere clearlyvisible in samplesfrom both nestsand 2002). Our work representsthe first multi-yearobserva- in the subsequentyears of the survey.Even within one tions of mites using raptor nests. nest, there waswide variation in the apparent abundance of mites and the variety of speciesthat were represented MATERIALS AND METHODS between samples.Samples collected from the Bytnica Nest material was collected during visits to occupied nest included 11 (2001) to 419 (2002) mite specimens, nestswithin the ranges of two pairs of White-tailed Sea- and 5 (2000) to 15 (2002) species.The Podanin nests Eagle between9 May and 2June 1999-2002.Unlike the contained 11 (2000) to 334 (1998) specimens,and 4 nestsof passerines,in which the entire nest is collected (2000) to 10 (1998) species.The total number of species and analyzed after fledging, we collected only ca. 250- 330 g of the lining materialfrom the nest cup (<0.1% of Mesostigmatamites in the Bytnica nest was 29 (696 of the entire nest mass). specimens),while the number of speciesin the Podanin The sampleswere collected from both nests.One was nestswas only 15 (364 specimes). built in a Scotchpine (Pinussylvestris) in a forest cluster Out of 35 mite speciesidentified, only 9 (25.7%) were of about 120 yr of age in the Bytnica forest district found in both nests.The Sorensensimilarity index (cal- (52ø00'N, 15ø10'E). The nest was 1.5 m high, 1.8 m in culated from paired samplescollected in 1998-2000) was diameter and weighed ca. 500 kg. The area around the very low (similarity = 25%), suggestingthat the mite nest comprisedmoss and boggyground on the northwest communities in these two nests were distinct from one side and a large pine forest in other directions.Samples another. Uroseiusinfirmus was the most common species from this nest were collected for 6 yr on the following dates:21 May 1997, 22 May 1998, 6 May 1999, 2 June in the Bytnicanest in 1997 (D = 53%) and 1999 (D = 2000, 28 May 2001, and 29 May 2002. The nest was oc- 34%). In 1998 Macrochelesmerdarius was most common cupied in all yearsby a pair of White-tailedSea Eagles, (78%); in 2000 Androlaelapscasalis was most dominant and broodsfledged successfullywith the exceptionof the (74%); while in 2001 there were no dominants; and in year 2000, when eggswere laid but did not hatch. 2002 three species were dominant: Parasitusfimetorum The second nest was located in Podanin forest district (32%), Alliphissiculus (20%), and Macrochelesancyleus (53ø00'N, 16ø50'E)and wasbuilt in an oak (Quercussp.) (12%). Alliphissiculus (87%) wasdominant in the Podan- within a beech-dominated forest (Fagussylvatica). This in nest in 1998, Nenteriapandioni (53%) in 1999, and in nest was one of the largest sea eagle nests in western 2000 there were no dominants. Over the 6 yr of survey, Poland (ca. 2.30 m deep and 2.0 m wide, weighing ca. 700 kg), and was built from mostlybeech boughswith the most commonlyidentified speciesin the Bytnicanest some pine and oak branches (Mizera 1999). The cup- was Parasitusfimetorum, which was also one of the most lining material wascomprised of dry grassthat probably common in the Podanin nest (examined for 3 yr). The had been collectedfrom within the forest.Samples from second most numerous speciesin the Bytnica nest was this nest were collected during 3 yr on the following Alliphissiculus, which appeared"super-dominant" in the dates:9 May 1998, 11 May 1999, and 20 May 2000. In all Podaninnest, comprising 80% of all mites.However, the years,fledglings were produced. third and fourth most numerous speciesin the Bytnica The mites were extracted in a Tullgren funnel (Karg 1993) and preservedin 75% ethanol.Prior to identifi- nest (i.e., Uroseiusinfirmus and Macrochelesmerdarius) were cation the specimenswere kept in lactophenol. Mites totally absentfrom the Podanin nest (Table 1). were identified with Axioscop 2 Zeiss microscope Zoocenologicanalysis was also based on frequencycal- equipped with Nomarskycontrast (Zeiss,Oberkochen, culations.It appearedthat Uroseiusinfirmus (100%) and Germany). Trichouropodaovalis (83%), classifiedas euconstants, were The speciescompositions between the two nestsand the most frequent mites in the Bytnica nest. We classified among the different yearswere compared. Zoocenologi- Alliphissiculus (67%) and Ascanova (67%) as constants. cal analysisof the mite communitywas based on numer- Nenteriapandioni (100%) was the most frequent in the ical speciespercentage dominance (dominancy = D) and Podanin nest. We noted that only two speciesof Uropo- frequency in samples.Dominant specieswere taken as thosewith proportionsover 10% of the mite community. dina suborder (Nenteria pandioni, Trichouropodaovalis), The most frequently occurred specieswere divided into were commonlyfound in both nests(56-78%) and oc- two groups;30-50% and >50%. The Sorensensimilarity curred regularlyin all years.Apart from the two Uropo- index and the Shannon diversityindex (/-/') of the mite dina species,the lack of a pattern in speciescomposition 62 SHORT COMMUNICATIONS VOL. 39, NO. 1 Table 1. List of mite speciesin two nestsof the White-tailed Sea Eagle from Poland. F = female, M = male, D = deutonymph,P = protonymph,and L = larva. NEST FROM BYFNICA FOREST DISTRiCT SPECIES 1997 1998 1999 2000 a 2001 Sejina Sejustogatus