The Pleistocene Glaciations as One of the Major Factors Having Impact on the Current Range of Occurrence and Species Diversity of Mites from the Suborder Uropodina (Acari: Mesostigmata) in Poland
Shimpei F. Hiruta
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The reviewed MS presents data on the distribution of uropodine mites in Poland. The authors attempted to analyze this distribution and find any distinct patterns of distribution for selected uropodine species including those associated with (palaeo)nunataks.
Introduction consists of 2 large parts, the first is more methodological, the second is about uropodines. The first paragraphs of Intro look slightly too instructive. May be authors could reconsider the structure of the Introduction.
Fig. 1. Please explain is it your original drawing or not? Could you give references for all lines (1,2,...) that indicate different glaciations? It is also recommented to indicate North and South on the map to make it easier to understand for readers. The quality of map (graphics) is suboptimal.
Material and Methods. It is not clear how the mites were identified and who verified the identifiction?
p120 >30000 specimens --- do you mean IN A SAMPLE? or what?
p145-147 - check italic
Uropodines are phoretic on arthropods. Could you please mention this important trait of uropodine ecology and include in the discussion/interpretetion of the results? This is important because endemism and distribution of phoretic organisms can be correlated with those of their carriers.
Discussion. The "parthenogenesis" ideas/hypotheses are unclear. Could you present/explain it in a more clear form?
Conclusion: "As can be seen,..." is a suboptimal start of the conclusion, the part of the MS wgere the main results are usually presented in a condense form and in broader context. The Conclusion needs careful revision.
Could you insert any images of mites which you studied and the areas explored (e.g. those three nunataks)? Such images usually make an article more attractive to readers.
Abstract. Usisng the term "nunatak" is fine, but the areas which you mean WERE nunataks (e.g. palaeonuntaks?), but currently they are not nunataks. This should be adressed somehow, otherwise it may be confusing. Additionally, it is not clear from the Abstract what was the main finding and conclusion of this study.
Author Response
Responses to Reviewer 1
The Pleistocene glaciations as one of the major factors having impact on the current range of occurrence and species diversity of mites from the suborder Uropodina (Acari: Mesostigmata) in Poland
The authors of the study are grateful to the Reviewer for all comments and suggestions. All of them have turned out to be extremely helpful, which obviously has considerably improved the overall quality of the manuscript.
Detailed responses to the Reviewer comments:
The reviewed MS presents data on the distribution of uropodine mites in Poland. The authors attempted to analyze this distribution and find any distinct patterns of distribution for selected uropodine species including those associated with (palaeo)nunataks.
Introduction consists of 2 large parts, the first is more methodological, the second is about uropodines. The first paragraphs of Intro look slightly too instructive. May be authors could reconsider the structure of the Introduction.
- Introduction has been corrected.
Fig. 1. Please explain is it your original drawing or not? Could you give references for all lines (1,2,...) that indicate different glaciations? It is also recommented to indicate North and South on the map to make it easier to understand for readers. The quality of map (graphics) is suboptimal.
- The necessary information have been added and figure have been corrected.
Material and Methods. It is not clear how the mites were identified and who verified the identifiction?
- The necessary information has been added. The found specimens were identified by Prof. BÅ‚oszyk, who is one of the best experts specializing in this group of mites. The identification of the adults and deutonymphs is based on the Grandjean method (temporary microscope slides in soaked in glycerine or lactic acid). The larvae and protonymphs were identified in permanent slides with the use of the Foure as the liquid factor. For this purpose we used the keys by Karg (1987), Bregetova (1977), and the studies published by BÅ‚oszyk (1999).
p120 >30000 specimens --- do you mean IN A SAMPLE? or what?
- We mean ALL the analyzed samples. The necessary information has been added.
p145-147 - check italic
- Italics have been corrected
Uropodines are phoretic on arthropods. Could you please mention this important trait of uropodine ecology and include in the discussion/interpretetion of the results? This is important because endemism and distribution of phoretic organisms can be correlated with those of their carriers.
- Not all species of Uropodina mites are phoretic. Phoresy occurs mainly in species associated with unstable microhabitats or those living in soil and microenvironments (for example, O. ovalis). In contrast, soil species have no phoretic capabilities. Among the species discussed in this study, soil species are dominant, and therefore not phoretic, but parthenogenic. In these species, it is parthenogenesis that enhances their dispersal capabilities. These include widely distributed soil species, i.e. Trachytes aegrota, T. pauperior, Olodiscus minima, Urodiaspis tecta, Dinychus perforatus, D. carinatus, and Trematurella elegans, as well as those with a narrower range, e.g. Polyaspinus cylindricus, Olodiscus misella, Cilliba erlangensis. Among the widely distributed species living in microhabitats in Poland, O. ovalis and P. pulchella are phoretic and for them the ability to spread through phoresy may indeed have been a factor that contributed to effective dispersal resulting in a wide range of distribution in Poland, as in the case of parthenogenesis in common soil species.
Discussion. The "parthenogenesis" ideas/hypotheses are unclear. Could you present/explain it in a more clear form?
- The information about parthenogenesis as one of two life strategies in Uropodina have been added in the Introduction. If these information are not sufficient, we would be grateful for guidance on what information will be needed in Reviewer's opinion.
Conclusion: "As can be seen,..." is a suboptimal start of the conclusion, the part of the MS wgere the main results are usually presented in a condense form and in broader context. The Conclusion needs careful revision.
- The Conclusion has been corrected.
Could you insert any images of mites which you studied and the areas explored (e.g. those three nunataks)? Such images usually make an article more attractive to readers.
- Images of some of mite species and the areas of explored nunatak have been added.
Abstract. Usisng the term "nunatak" is fine, but the areas which you mean WERE nunataks (e.g. palaeonuntaks?), but currently they are not nunataks. This should be adressed somehow, otherwise it may be confusing. Additionally, it is not clear from the Abstract what was the main finding and conclusion of this study.
- The Abstract has been corrected and the necessary information has been added.
Submission Date
17 January 2023
Date of this review
27 Jan 2023 21:16:44
Reviewer 2 Report
The references should be added to the part related to the expansion and contraction of the ice sheet due to climate change in Poland. The four lines in Fig. 1 are challenging to understand, although they may mean the maximum ice sheet area in each glacial period. It would be better to separate the figure for each glacial period or to show only the last glacial period.
The influence of the last glacial period is the most important factor for the present biota. In regions covered by ice sheets, such as Europe, information on the development of ice sheets in the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) would be significant, considering that organisms invade after the alternation of ice sheets.
When I read about species that show a separate distribution in Poland, I would like to know the status of the ice sheet surrounding Poland in LGM.
The presence of geographic parthenogenesis may have contributed to the rapid population expansion, but what is the fundamental dispersal pattern of these mites? It would be better to mention the general ecology of these mites in the introduction. Also, since dispersal is possible only when the habitat is complete, it would be better to have a vegetation map to show the distribution in the forest.
I wonder if there are any changes over time in this considerable sample that has been accumulated over 60 years, and although not many sites have been sampled continuously since 1961, it would be interesting to follow changes over time that cannot be seen in the current sample alone.
Author Response
Responses to Reviewer 2
The Pleistocene glaciations as one of the major factors having impact on the current range of occurrence and species diversity of mites from the suborder Uropodina (Acari: Mesostigmata) in Poland
The authors of the study are grateful to the Reviewer for all comments and suggestions. All of them have turned out to be extremely helpful, which obviously has considerably improved the overall quality of the manuscript.
Detailed responses to the Reviewer comments:
The references should be added to the part related to the expansion and contraction of the ice sheet due to climate change in Poland. The four lines in Fig. 1 are challenging to understand, although they may mean the maximum ice sheet area in each glacial period. It would be better to separate the figure for each glacial period or to show only the last glacial period.
- The necessary references have been added to the Introduction, the caption for Fig. 1 has been corrected to make it less ambiguous – what we meant was of course the maximum ice sheet area in each glacial period.
The influence of the last glacial period is the most important factor for the present biota. In regions covered by ice sheets, such as Europe, information on the development of ice sheets in the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) would be significant, considering that organisms invade after the alternation of ice sheets.
When I read about species that show a separate distribution in Poland, I would like to know the status of the ice sheet surrounding Poland in LGM.
- The territory of Poland was never entirely covered by glaciers. The largest ice sheet occurred during the second glaciation - the South-Polish (Mindel), when the ice sheet reached the northern slopes of the Carpathians and Sudetes at the altitude of about 400 m above sea level. The two subsequent glaciations covered a smaller area, so the southern part of the country was covered by the glacier only once, while the central and northern parts were covered several times.
- The range of glaciation in Europe was presented on a map in a different study on the impact of the European glaciations on the life-history strategies of Labidostomma luteum: Błoszyk, J.; Napierała, A.; Adamski, Z.; Zacharyasiewicz, M. Range of Occurrence of Bisexual and Parthenogenetic Populations of Labidostomma luteum (Acari: Prostigmata) in Europe. Diversity 2022, 14, 504. https://doi.org/10.3390/d14070504.
The presence of geographic parthenogenesis may have contributed to the rapid population expansion, but what is the fundamental dispersal pattern of these mites? It would be better to mention the general ecology of these mites in the introduction. Also, since dispersal is possible only when the habitat is complete, it would be better to have a vegetation map to show the distribution in the forest.
- The information on the dispersal pattern of Uropodina has been provided in the description of the group in the Introduction.
As to the remark suggesting adding a vegetation map, we do not know exactly what kind of a map it should be in this case. Be it noted that a description of the hypothetical development of the Uropodina community and the sequence of emergence of individual species against the background of climatic conditions and changes in the vegetation cover during the Holocene is presented in the following study: BÅ‚oszyk, J. Geograficzne i Ekologiczne Zróżnicowanie ZgrupowaÅ„ Roztoczy z Kohoryty Uropodina (Acari: Mesostigmata) w Polsce: Uropodina Lasów GrÄ…dowych (Carpinion betuli), 1st ed.; Kontekst: PoznaÅ„, Poland, 1999; pp. 245. It is, of course, purely hypothetical, due to the lack of fossil evidence.
I wonder if there are any changes over time in this considerable sample that has been accumulated over 60 years, and although not many sites have been sampled continuously since 1961, it would be interesting to follow changes over time that cannot be seen in the current sample alone.
- The authors of this article conducted regular studies on changes in Uropodina groupings over time in two oak-hornbeam reserves in Greater Poland (see e.g. Błoszyk, J.; Napierała, A.;Kulczak, M.; Zacharyasiewicz, M. Changes in Forest Stand and Stability of Uropodine Mites Communities (Acari: Parasitiformes) in Jakubowo Nature Reserve in the Light of Long-Term Research. Forests 2022, 13, 1219. https://doi.org/10.3390/f13081219 or A. Napierała, B. Labijak, F. Skwierczyński, Sz. Konwerski & J. Błoszyk (2015) Influence of habitat type and natural disturbances on uropodine mite communities (Acari: Mesostigmata: Uropodina) in oak-hornbeam forests in Central Europe, International Journal of Acarology, 41:1, 41-52, DOI: 10.1080/01647954.2014.985713). The changes shown therein were related to the succession of the vegetation cover and anthropogenic changes in the examined sites. However, in recent years, the appearance of two species that had not previously occurred there, i.e., O. obscurasimilis and N. splendida, was also observed. The authors speculate that this may be due to the global warming effect and it has resulted in a broadening of the ranges of these species. A comment on this has been added in the Discussion.
Submission Date
17 January 2023
Date of this review
09 Feb 2023 16:13:45
Round 2
Reviewer 2 Report
The revisions were made to add references to the introduction and ecological information that I commented on in the last review.
The paper as a whole, including the discussion, has been sufficiently revised.
On the other hand, some parts of the English text need to be checked. e.g., "external" in line 364 should be "externally." etc...　
