Ecological Studies of Mites Found in Sheep and Cattle Pastures. I. Distribution Patterns of Oribatid Mites1

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Abstract
Data which approximated the Negative Binomial model were obtained in a sampling program designed to investigate the distribution of oribatid mites in a sheep pasture and a cattle pasture in Kentucky during the summer months. The sheep pasture had higher population densities, but fewer mite species, than the cattle pasture; Scheloribates laevigatus (Koch) was the dominant species in the sheep pasture, Eupelops, n. sp., in the cattle pasture. A relatively abrupt increase in mite density in the grass zone of the sheep pasture in July and August contrasted with a more stable but lesser density in this zone of the cattle pasture. Mite densities in the grass zone were highest in the early morning and declined somewhat during the day, but this phenomenon was not marked. Appreciable populations of mites, including such potential hosts of anoplocephalid cestodes as Scheloribates laevigatus and Galumna cf. virginiensis Jacot, were present in the grass zone throughout the day. This indicates that diurnal fluctuations in the vertical distribution patterns of potential intermediate hosts cannot be used in controlling infection of sheep and cattle by anoplocephalid tapeworms. The results of this study agree generally with those of a previous, preliminary investigation, although some discrepancies were evident; these are discussed in some detail.

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