Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T07:16:23.811Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Effect of water quality on waterbugs (Hemiptera: Gerromorpha & Nepomorpha) in Flanders (Belgium): results from a large-scale field survey

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 June 2013

Koen Lock ,
Tim Adriaens ,
Frank Van De Meutter  and
Peter Goethals
Koen Lock*
Affiliation:
eCOAST Marine Research, Esplanadestraat 1, 8400 Oostende, Belgium
Tim Adriaens
Affiliation:
Research Institute for Nature and Forest, Kliniekstraat 25, 1070 Brussels, Belgium
Frank Van De Meutter
Affiliation:
Research Institute for Nature and Forest, Kliniekstraat 25, 1070 Brussels, Belgium
Peter Goethals
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Environmental Toxicology and Aquatic Ecology, Ghent University, J. Plateaustraat 22, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
*
*Corresponding author: Koen_Lock@hotmail.com
Get access

Abstract

Macroinvertebrates have been collected in Flanders since 1989 by the Flemish Environment Agency to assess ecological water quality. During the present study, the collected waterbugs were identified to species level. In total, more than 90 000 waterbugs were identified, belonging to 45 species. Two of these are recent additions to Flemish fauna: Sigara iactans was found to be a common species in 1989, the first year of monitoring, which is earlier than the first records reported so far, whereas Cymatia rogenhoferi remains a very rare species. Five different communities could be recognized: (1) species occurring in alkaline waters with a high pH, (2) species occurring in colder waters that can tolerate slightly brackish and nutrient rich water, (3) species from running waters, (4) species from acidic waters and (5) ubiquist species that occurred in all types of water. Owing to the general improvement of chemical water quality during the last decade, most species increased, however, three pollution tolerant species declined significantly: Callicorixa praeusta, Corixa punctata and Sigara striata.

Keywords

ecological water qualityFlandersgeographical distributionmonitoringwaterbugs
Type
Research Article
Information
Annales de Limnologie - International Journal of Limnology , Volume 49 , Issue 2 , 2013 , pp. 121 - 128
Copyright
© EDP Sciences, 2013

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

AGIV, 2006. Flemish Hydrographic Atlas. Agentschap voor Geografische Informatie Vlaanderen, Ghent, available online at: http://geo-vlaanderen.agiv.be/geo-vlaanderen/vha
Aukema, B., Cuppen, J.G.M., Nieser, N. and Tempelman, D., 2002. Verspreidingsatlas Nederlandse Wantsen, European Invertebrate Survey, Leiden.Google Scholar
Elder, J.-F., 2002. Capture récente en France de Cymatia rogenhoferi (Fieber, 1864) et description des stades juvéniles (Heteroptera, Corixidae). Bull. Soc. Entomol. Fr., 107, 43–49.Google Scholar
Elder, J.-F. and Chéreau, L., 2003. Une nouvelle espèce d'Hydrocorise pour la faune de France: Sigara (Subsigara) iactans Jansson, 1983. Bull. Soc. Entomol. Fr., 108, 405–407.Google Scholar
European Council, 2000. Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2000 establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy. Official Journal of the European Communities, L327, Brussels, 72 p.
Gabriels, W., Lock, K., De Pauw, N. and Goethals, P.L.M., 2010. Multimetric Macroinvertebrate Index Flanders (MMIF) for biological assessment of rivers and lakes in Flanders (Belgium). Limnologica, 40, 199–207.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jansson, A., 1983. Three new palaearctic species of Sigara (Subsigara) (Heteroptera, Corixidae). Ann. Entomol. Fennici, 49, 65–70.Google Scholar
Lock, K. and Goethals, P.L.M., 2008. Distribution and ecology of the stoneflies (Plecoptera) of Flanders (Belgium). Ann. Limnol. - Int. J. Limnol., 44, 203–213.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lock, K. and Goethals, P.L.M., 2011. Distribution and ecology of the mayflies (Ephemeroptera) of Flanders (Belgium). Ann. Limnol. - Int. J. Limnol., 47, 159–165.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lock, K. and Goethals, P.L.M., 2012. Distribution and ecology of the caddisflies (Trichoptera) of Flanders (Belgium). Ann. Limnol. - Int. J. Limnol., 48, 31–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lock, K., Stoffelen, E., Vercauteren, T., Bosmans, R. and Adriaens, T., in press. Updated red list of the water bugs (Hemiptera: Gerromorpha & Nepomorpha) in Flanders (Belgium). Bull. Soc. R. Belg. Entomol. 149
Messiaen, M., Lock, K., Gabriels, W., Vercauteren, T., Wouters, K., Boets, P. and Goethals, P.L.M., 2010. Alien macrocrustaceans in freshwater ecosystems in the eastern part of Flanders (Belgium). Belg. J. Zool., 140, 30–39.Google Scholar
Nau, B.X. and Brooke, S.E., 2006. Two waterbugs new to Britain, Cymatia rogenhoferi Fieber and Sigara iactans Jansson (Hem., Corixidae), with comments on migration. Entomol. Mon. Mag., 142, 229–234.Google Scholar
Oscarson, H.G., 1987. Habitat segregation in a water boatman (Corixidae) assemblage – the role of predation. Oikos, 49, 133–140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Popham, E.J., Bryant, M.T. and Savage, A.A., 1984. The role of front legs of British corixid bugs in feeding and mating. J. Nat. Hist., 18, 445–464.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sala, O.E., Chapin, F.S., Armesto, J.J., Berlow, R., Bloomfield, J., Dirzo, R., Huber-Sanwald, E., Huenneke, L.F., Jackson, R.B., Kinzig, A., Leemans, R., Lodge, D., Mooney, H.A., Oesterheld, M., Poff, N.L., Sykes, M.T., Walker, B.H. and Wall, D.H., 2000. Global biodiversity scenarios for the year 2100. Science, 287, 1770–1774.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smith, V.H., 2003. Eutrophication of freshwater and coastal marine ecosystems – a global problem. Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res., 10, 126–139.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tempelman, D. and Van Haaren, T., 2009. Water- en oppervlaktewantsen van Nederland, Jeugdbondsuitgeverij, Utrecht.Google Scholar
Ter Braak, C.J.F., 1988. CANOCO – a FORTRAN program for canonical community ordination by (partial) (canonical) correspondence analysis, principal components analysis and redundancy analysis (version 2.1). Agricultural Mat. Group, Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (Netherlands), Wageningen, 95 p.
Vercauteren, T., 1997. Sigara (Subsigara) iactans, een nieuwe soort voor België (Heteroptera: Corixidae). Phegea, 25, 97–105.Google Scholar
VMM, 2009. MIR-T 2008 Indicator report [in Dutch]. Van Steertegem M. (red.), Environmental Report Flanders, Flemish Environment Agency, Aalst, 164.
VMM, 2010. Annual Report Water 2009 [in Dutch], Flemish Environment Agency, Available online at: http://www.vmm.be/pub/jaarrapport-water-2009.