According to Wikipedia, flies are kept in check by mites…
Can anyone clarify this? What are mites doing to flies? I have plenty of mites in my compost but I don't see how they deter maggots or flies. I've seen mites hitchhiking on flies tho, is that the reason?
Great info. I rely upon -30F temps for my fly killing…
Habit-The-Rabbit
The mites compete for food and occasionally just straight up eat their babies/eggs depending on what kind you’ve got. They also act as a food source for other micro-ecosystem animals that also compete with flies.
agreatkumquat
Are we talking mites in general? As with most interactions between organisms in nature, it’s a very nuanced question. Its answer depends entirely on which species are involved in the interaction. Some mites could be eating the flies, some could be helping them, some could interact but have a neutral effect on the flies.
In the case of parasitic mites, it makes sense that as the number of flies increases, the number of mites will also increase. The flies will hit their carrying capacity based on the available food and space, after which the mites will quickly hit their carrying capacity because there’s no more growth in the fly (aka food) population. The fly population will then be reduced by the mite population, which itself is reduced by the decrease in available flies (aka food). In ecology, this type of cyclic interaction is called a density-dependent interaction. It’s a common occurrence and it’s crucial for controlling the populations of many different organisms.
ajdudhebsk
Not compost, but in my indoor soil bed, I have predator mites specifically to eat fungus gnat larvae and other pests. I’m guessing that’s what they mean but I’m not sure a mite would survive high temps any better than a fly (I could totally be wrong).
Suspicious-Salad-213
Ecologically speaking, “kept in check” wouldn’t mean you’ll have no flies, just that their population is balanced by systematic rules, and there it’s also listing the temperature itself.
Daydream_Delusions
BSF larvae will eat ALL other maggots in the heap. Too big and too voracious of eaters for anything else to keep up.
In my head, the mites attack/eat young maggots while they are still relatively small and slow. Otherwise, I’d wager they don’t keep maggots in check all that well in a pile.
GnaphaliumUliginosum
‘Flies’ = Order Diptera, >150,000 species with extremely diverse habitats and ecological niches, a few dozen or so genera of which are likely to frequent compost.
‘Mites’ = Subclass Acari (now split into 2 orders) >1,000,000 species, mostly highly adapted to very narrow ecological niches, including many that are highly specialised to parasitise a single species of insect.
That part of the wiki article is vague at best, I would argue misleading and unhelpful.
7 Comments
Great info. I rely upon -30F temps for my fly killing…
The mites compete for food and occasionally just straight up eat their babies/eggs depending on what kind you’ve got. They also act as a food source for other micro-ecosystem animals that also compete with flies.
Are we talking mites in general? As with most interactions between organisms in nature, it’s a very nuanced question. Its answer depends entirely on which species are involved in the interaction. Some mites could be eating the flies, some could be helping them, some could interact but have a neutral effect on the flies.
In the case of parasitic mites, it makes sense that as the number of flies increases, the number of mites will also increase. The flies will hit their carrying capacity based on the available food and space, after which the mites will quickly hit their carrying capacity because there’s no more growth in the fly (aka food) population. The fly population will then be reduced by the mite population, which itself is reduced by the decrease in available flies (aka food). In ecology, this type of cyclic interaction is called a density-dependent interaction. It’s a common occurrence and it’s crucial for controlling the populations of many different organisms.
Not compost, but in my indoor soil bed, I have predator mites specifically to eat fungus gnat larvae and other pests. I’m guessing that’s what they mean but I’m not sure a mite would survive high temps any better than a fly (I could totally be wrong).
Ecologically speaking, “kept in check” wouldn’t mean you’ll have no flies, just that their population is balanced by systematic rules, and there it’s also listing the temperature itself.
BSF larvae will eat ALL other maggots in the heap. Too big and too voracious of eaters for anything else to keep up.
In my head, the mites attack/eat young maggots while they are still relatively small and slow. Otherwise, I’d wager they don’t keep maggots in check all that well in a pile.
‘Flies’ = Order Diptera, >150,000 species with extremely diverse habitats and ecological niches, a few dozen or so genera of which are likely to frequent compost.
‘Mites’ = Subclass Acari (now split into 2 orders) >1,000,000 species, mostly highly adapted to very narrow ecological niches, including many that are highly specialised to parasitise a single species of insect.
That part of the wiki article is vague at best, I would argue misleading and unhelpful.