You are here:
POPULATION DYNAMICS OF THE HOUSE DUST MITES, DERMATOPHAGOIDES FARINAE, D. PTERONYSSINUS, AND EUROGLYPHUS MAYNEI (ACARI: PYROGLYPHIDAE), AT SPECIFIC RELATIVE HUMIDITIES
Citation:
Arlian, L., P. Confer, C. Rapp, D. VyszenskiMoher, AND J.C S. Chang*. POPULATION DYNAMICS OF THE HOUSE DUST MITES, DERMATOPHAGOIDES FARINAE, D. PTERONYSSINUS, AND EUROGLYPHUS MAYNEI (ACARI: PYROGLYPHIDAE), AT SPECIFIC RELATIVE HUMIDITIES. JOURNAL OF MEDICAL ENTOMOLOGY 35(1):46-53, (1998).
Impact/Purpose:
Published Journal Article
Description:
Experiments were conducted to determine the effects of relative humidity (RH) on the population dynamics of single and mixed species of Dermatophagoides farinae (Hughes), D. pteronyssinus (Trouessart), and Euroglyphus maynei (Cooreman) at specific RHs, , and unlimited food. Single and mixed species population densities of D. farinae and D. pteronyssinus increased exponentially when cultured at 65, 70, and 75% RH. The mean population growth rates were 17.3 " 4.4 standard deviation (S.D.) and 32.5 " 4.7 S.D. % per wk for D. farinae and D. pteronyssinus, respectively. Mean population doubling times were 2.2 " 0.3 S.D. and 4.2 " 1.3 S.D. wks for D. pteronyssinus and D. farinae, respectively. Mixed species cultures, started with equal numbers of D. farinae and D. pteronyssinus, always resulted in higher percentages of D. farinae than D. pteronyssinus. In cultures started with 75% of 1 species and 25% of the other, the more numerous species remained dominant and in similar ratios throughout the experiment. Both D. farinae and D. pteronyssinus population densities at 85%% RH declined over a 12-wk culture period due to mold growth. E. maynei were unable to survive at 65, 70, 75, and 85% which suggested that some climatic requirements of E. maynei are different from those of D. farinae and D. pteronyssinus.
Population densities of D. farinae and D. pteronyssinus in thriving cultures declined when the cultures were held at 21-22E C and RHs #50%; however, at 50% RH significant proportions of the populations survived for 10 wks. Half-lives for desiccation of D. farinae and D. pteronyssinus at 45% RH were 11.5 and 1.2 wks, respectively, but at 50% RH they were 86.3 and 4.0 wks, respectively.
These results indicate that RHs of #50% must be maintained for long periods to reduce both D. farinae and D. pteronyssinus by desiccation procedures. The results of this study showed that D. farinae and D. pteronyssinus have very high reproductive potentials and population growth rates. These high population growth rates indicate that mite reduction procedures must be very through or mite densities can return to high levels quickly following remediation when adequate food and suitable microclimate conditions exist.
URLs/Downloads:
Journal URL
POPULATION DYNAMICS OF THE HOUSE DUST MITES, DERMATOPHAGOIDES FARINAE, D. PTERONYSSINUS, AND EUROGLYPHUS MAYNEI (ACARI: PYROGLYPHIDAE), AT SPECIFIC RELATIVE HUMIDITIES (PDF, NA pp, 2824 KB, about PDF)