The use of soil mites in ecotoxicology: a review.

Mites, and especially soil-inhabiting ones, have been less studied than the other invertebrates used in bio-assays for the assessment of soil quality and the hazards of chemicals, although these organisms are included in the regulatory assessment scheme of pesticides. The recent advances in the development of test methods for soil mites groups have provided more information on their sensitivities towards chemicals, which needs to be presented for a more robust assessment of the current trends in soil mite ecotoxicology. Moreover, interestingly mite is the only taxa for which test methods were developed and standardized on predatory organisms. This review summarizes the different protocols for the assessment of chemicals using soil-inhabiting mites, including laboratory, semi-field and field studies. Among the data found in the literature, most of the chemicals assessed with mites were pesticides, while a few environmental samples were assessed with these organisms. Their sensitivities towards chemicals were then compared and discussed regarding other soil invertebrates. Finally, we conclude on the usefulness of soil mites in ecotoxicology, and provide future research trail in this area.