Temporal variation in the Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and Trichoptera community in response to environmental drivers in a subtropical stream
Journal Title: Journal of Insect Biodiversity - Year 2016, Vol 4, Issue 19
Abstract
Aquatic insects are important elements in the ecological dynamics of lotic systems and their distribution in these environments can be driven by several environmental factors. Based in this assumption the aim of this study was to evaluate which environmental variables act as structural driver of the Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and Trichoptera (EPT) community. We hypothesize that community structure will display strong temporal alterations due to characteristics in subtropical regions. We evaluated the effect of water temperature, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, depth, current velocity and rainfall on the distribution of EPT community. The insects were sampled using the litter bags incubation in a third-order subtropical stream located on Santa Catarina Island, Southern Brazil. The abundance of EPT was monitored for 24 months between January 2012 and December 2013. We identified 530 EPT specimens belonging to 11 families and 20 genera. The community showed a significant variation along the monitored time, mainly attributed to Trichoptera order. In addition to the results of this work the Ecnomidae family, Austrotinodes and Neotrichia genera represent new records for Santa Catarina State. Environmental variables varied significantly during the study time and depth and rainfall were the mainly environmental drivers acting under the community structure. We also observed a negatively correlation among rainfall and EPT community, especially to Trichoptera, which showed a strong temporal variation. In this study the EPT community displays a strong temporal variation along the monitored time, mainly attributed to rainfall events, characteristic of subtropical region. We also suggest that body adaptations also have an influence in the EPT community structure, once under flood event conditions these adaptations may offer advantage or disadvantage to invertebrate establishment, as pointed in the Trichoptera order.
Authors and Affiliations
Rafael Schmitt, Ana Emília Siegloch, Aurea Luiza Lemes da Silva, Leonardo Kleba Lisboa, Mauricio Mello Petrucio
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP34244
- DOI -
- Views 320
- Downloads 0
Darkling beetles (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) of forest sites and agricultural fields in the south Western Ghats (South India)
Data on the abundance, feeding guilds, flightlessness and endemic status of darkling beetles from selected forest sites and agriculture fields in the moist south Western Ghats in south India are provided. Overall abund...
Kunzeana Oman: first record in South America, with description of a new species (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae: Typhlocybinae)
A new species of Kunzeana Oman, 1949 (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae: Typhlocybinae), Kunzeana zantedeschia sp. nov. is described and illustrated based on specimens from Minas Gerais, southeastern Brazil. The new species diff...
Preliminary list of Coleoptera heritage species of the Talassemtane National Park, Morocco
A faunistic survey on beetles was conducted within the Talassemtane National Park (Western Rif, District of Chefchaouen), in order to improve knowledge of their local diversity, to assess species and provide the first...
Ground-dwelling ant assemblages (Family: Formicidae) in six coconut (Cocos nucifera L. 1753) plantations in Sri Lanka
The contribution of six well-established coconut plantations to the conservation of biodiversity, specifically of ants, was investigated using soil sifting, timed hand collection and honey baiting along five, 100 m tra...
Taxonomic notes on the genera Hedyphanes Fischer von Waldheim, 1820 and Entomogonus Solier, 1848 (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) of Turkey
Four species of Hedyphanes F.-W. are distributed in Anatolia: H. cordicollis Seidlitz, 1896 (Diyarbakır), H. khachikovi sp. nov. (southern part of Tunceli Province), H. lutosus Allard, 1877 sp. resurr. (type locality:...