Bory Tucholskie National Park, founded in 1996, is one of the most recently established national parks in Poland, and therefore, has not been thoroughly examined yet. The authors of the current study present results of their research concerning communities of mites from the suborder Uropodina (Acari: Mesostigmata), inhabiting bird nesting boxes within the area of Bory Tucholskie National Park. The mite community comprises two nidicolous species, i.e. Leiodinychus orbicularis (C.L. Koch, 1839) and Chiropturopoda nidiphila (Wiśniewski and Hirschmann 1993). The former is a species characteristic of various types of nests, as well as nesting boxes, where it is usually the eudominant species. The latter is an extremely rare and scarce species of Uropodina, known thus far from woodpeckers’ hollows. The population of L. orbicularis in the analysed communities in the realm of Bory Tucholskie National Park has been estimated to be over 6,000 specimens, and in the case of Ch. nidiphila - over 400 specimens.

There are 23 national parks in Poland, and only a few of them have been studied thoroughly with regard to acarofauna so far. One of the least-examined areas in this regard is Bory Tucholskie National Park (BTNP), established in 1996. The aim of this research study was to explore the species diversity, community structure, and spatial distribution of mites from the order Oribatida: ptyctimous mites (Acari: Oribatida) and species from the families Nothridae and Camisiidae (Acari: Oribatida: Crotonioidea) inhabiting different forests open and unstable microhabitats in the area of Bory Tucholskie National Park (BTNP). In the case of ptyctimous mites, the communities were compared to those in other Polish national parks. Based on the analysis of 285 samples collected in BTNP between 2022 and 2024, 8 species of Crotonioidea with dominant Heminothrus peltifer (C. L. Koch, 1839) and 21 species of ptyctimous mites with the most numerous Atropacarus (Atropacarus) striculus (C. L. Koch, 1835) were identified in the analyzed material. The highest species diversity was observed in different types of pine forests (25 species) and in alder forests (24 species), while the lowest diversity occurred in areas with reeds (11 species). The comparison of the number of ptyctimous mites in Polish national parks revealed that BTNP can be ranked second in terms of species diversity among 12 national parks examined in Poland so far.

The presence of nest boxes not only increases the reproductive success of many passerine birds in transformed forest habitats, but they also constitute important artificial microhabitats for many groups of invertebrates. One of such groups which have been often found in this microhabitat is saprophagous mites from the suborder Uropodina (Acari: Mesostigmata). The current study was conducted in October 2023 and 2024 in Bory Tucholskie National Park (BTNP) (northern Poland), where material from 137 tit (Paridae) and nuthatch (Sitta europaea) nest boxes was collected. The aim of this study was to analyse the stability of the communities of Uropodina in nest boxes in the park in two seasons and to determine whether the mite community structure within these nest boxes is similar in each year. The second aim was to analyse the abundance of Uropodina in relation to the composition of the nest box bedding material. This study revealed that the community in the scrutinised nest boxes was formed in both seasons by two species of nidicolous Uropodina species, i.e., Leiodinychus orbicularis (C.L. Koch, 1839) and Chiropturopoda nidiphila (Wiśniewski and Hirschmann, 1993), and that the species composition and the community structure were also very similar in both years. This study revealed that Ch. nidiphila dominated in the nest boxes with moss and grass, whereas L. orbicularis was most abundant in the boxes where the bedding was a mixture of mammalian hair and grass. However, no statistically significant differences in the abundance of these two mite species in both cases were revealed.

Antipredator responses of prey are important because of their potential trophic cascade effects. Predator responses are especially important for species that impact the economy, such as ungulates. Past research has focused on the behavioral adaptation of roe deer, the most common ungulate in Europe, to human and lynx pressure. However, the European wolf population has increased in the last decade and in some recently recolonized parts of Poland roe deer constitute the largest food source for wolves. Unlike in moose and red deer, no evidence has yet been found for changes in the vigilance-foraging time ratio in roe deer in response to wolves. We took the unique opportunity to study the behavior of roe deer during the partial recolonization by wolves of a large forest complex (Tuchola Forest) in Poland. Using video cameras, we found that roe deer react differently to the presence of wolves compared with humans. Wolf predation increases roe deer movement. In comparison, anthropopressure causes roe deer to mainly use an avoidance strategy, limiting their activity to times of day when people are not present. This temporal avoidance strategy was similar whether human pressure resulted from recreation or hunting.

The state of research into acarofauna in Polish national parks is very uneven. One of the least examined areas in this regard is Bory Tucholskie National Park (BTNP), established in 1996. The aim of the current research was to explore the species diversity and community structure of mites from the suborder Uropodina (Acari: Mesostigmata), inhabiting different forest, open, and unstable microhabitats in the area of BTNP. Based on the analysis of over 300 samples collected in BTNP between 2004 and 2024, 29 taxa of Uropodina were identified, with 3839 specimens found in the analyzed material. The highest species diversity has been observed in different types of pine forests (19 species), in transformed alder and alder forests (15 species, each), and in reeds (12 species), while the lowest diversity occurred in peat bog areas (8 species) and inland dunes (5 species). The spatial distribution analyses for Uropodina in the area of BTNP have been made and distribution maps for each species have been drawn. Moreover, the Maturity Index (MI) was also calculated to compare the species diversity of the Uropodina communities in BTNP with those in other Polish national parks. The Uropodina community in BTNP ranked eighth in terms of species richness among 13 national parks explored in Poland so far. Finally, the comparative analysis of the MI for the selected Polish national parks has revealed that BTNP could be ranked fourth in terms of the faunistic value for the discussed mite group.