Growth and production of a stream stonefly: influences of diet and temperature. [Soyedina carolinesis]

Journal Article · Wed Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 1986 · Ecology; (United States)

OSTI ID:7109124

Sweeney, B W; Vannote, R L

The natural influx of leaf litter from a hardwood forest to sections of two spring seeps and a spring brook was excluded for two years and replaced with equivalent amounts of leaves from specific tree species. Larval growth, mortality, and productivity, as well as the timing of emergence and the size of adults, were assessed in the naturally occurring populations of Soyedina carolinesis, and the differences related to differences in available food and in temperature among study sites. During the first experimental year, larvae fed only on sugar maple or chestnut oak leaves exhibited the same rate and magnitude of growth as larvae fed the natural mix of leaves collected from the surrounding forest. Larval growth rates and adult size seemed lower on monospecific diets of hickory, American beech, and red oak leaves relative to the natural, mixed leaf diets. Adult emergence occurred on or about the same date for most diets. Larval production ranged from 1382 to 5500 mg x m/sup -2/ x yr/sup -1/; there was no correlation between larval growth rate and productivity on a given diet. During the second experimental year, most sites that had been supplied with single-species leaf diets during the first experimental year were provided with sugar maple leaves only. This was an attempt to evaluate site-to-site differences in habitat quality (other than diet) that might affect the growth performance of larvae. The amount of variation in larval growth rate and adult size among sites having a common diet was equal to or greater than among-site variation during the previous year, when each site differed in leaf diet. In the spring brook experiment, both diet and location within the brook exerted significant effects on larval growth rate and adult size.

• Research Organization: Stroud Water Research Center of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, Avondale, PA
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-79EV10259
• OSTI ID: 7109124
• Journal Information: Ecology; (United States), Vol. 67:5
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
AMBIENT TEMPERATURE
BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS
AQUATIC ORGANISMS
DIET
GROWTH
LARVAE
REPRODUCTION
FOREST LITTER
AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS
INSECTS
LEAVES
MAPLES
OAKS
STREAMS
ANIMALS
ARTHROPODS
BIOLOGICAL MATERIALS
ECOSYSTEMS
INVERTEBRATES
MATERIALS
PLANTS
SURFACE WATERS
TREES
520100* - Environment
Aquatic- Basic Studies- (-1989)