Distribution and diversity patterns of soil mites and other microarthropods in a Chihuahuan Desert site

This paper reports the results of a pilot survey of the patterns of distribution and species diversity of soil microarthropods from 12 different sites in a Chihuahuan Desert watershed in southern New Mexico.... An Index of Diversity, calculated for the various groups of microarthropods at the 12 sties, was very variable, but values approximating to those reported for the microarthropod fauna of an English beech woodland were obtained for several sites. The equitability component of this species diversity provided a good indicator of the relative stability of the sites studied.