The article presents an ecological characterization of thrips caught in Moericke traps in the Botanical Garden in Lublin. The objective of the research was to study the species composition and abundance of thrips in a man-made environment, where alongside native plants there are also trees and bushes brought in from other parts of the world. A total of 396 adult Thysanoptera individuals belonging to 39 species were caught. This is 17.2% of the thrip fauna in Poland. Among the individuals collected there were 10 dendrophilous species and 3 mycophagous species associated with tree bark and living in rotting wood. This is 25% of the Thysanoptera occurring in Poland with these food preferences. The trap method chosen is effective at catching thrips appearing in the spring and early summer, i.e. Taeniothrips inconsequens, Thrips minutissimus, Oxythrips ajugae and O. bicolor, as well as deeply hidden species that are difficult to capture using other methods. Using the Moericke trap method we collected four species rarely recorded in Poland.

In two fish ponds in Lasy Janowskie Landscape Park 48 water mite species were caught. In the pond Momoty Duże, situated in the Lasy Janowskie reserve, more species (38), higher species diversity (3.88), and a larger share of lake fauna (33.2%) were observed than in Momoty Małe (33, 3.67 and 22.6% respectively). In the combined collected material small water body species were dominant (70.6%). Similarity between the Hydrachnidia assemblages of the two ponds was 50.1%. The large number of species and individuals caught and the high values for the species diversity index confirm the significant role of fish ponds as a habitat for water mites. A characteristic trait of the ponds was the very small percentage of vernal species and of tyrphobiontic and tyrphophilic species. Although more species and a larger share of lake fauna were found in the pond situated in the reserve (Momoty Duże) than in the pond outside the reserve (Momoty Małe), the differences in the structure of the fauna were slight. The lack of pronounced differences between the two ponds was due to their similar habitat characteristics and similar use.