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Insect emergence in relation to floods in wet meadows and swamps in the River Dalälven floodplain

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 February 2014

T.Z. Persson Vinnersten ,
Ö. Östman ,
M.L. Schäfer  and
J.O. Lundström
T.Z. Persson Vinnersten*
Affiliation:
Department of Ecology and Genetics/Animal Ecology, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala University, Norbyvägen 18 D, SE – 752 36, Uppsala, Sweden Swedish Biological Mosquito Control Project, Nedre Dalälvens Utvecklings AB, Gysinge, Sweden
Ö. Östman
Affiliation:
Department of Ecology and Genetics/Animal Ecology, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala University, Norbyvägen 18 D, SE – 752 36, Uppsala, Sweden
M.L. Schäfer
Affiliation:
Department of Ecology and Genetics/Animal Ecology, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala University, Norbyvägen 18 D, SE – 752 36, Uppsala, Sweden Swedish Biological Mosquito Control Project, Nedre Dalälvens Utvecklings AB, Gysinge, Sweden
J.O. Lundström
Affiliation:
Department of Ecology and Genetics/Animal Ecology, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala University, Norbyvägen 18 D, SE – 752 36, Uppsala, Sweden Swedish Biological Mosquito Control Project, Nedre Dalälvens Utvecklings AB, Gysinge, Sweden
*
*Author for correspondence Phone: +46 18 471 2637 Fax: +46 18 471 6424 E-mail: Thomas.Persson@ebc.uu.se
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Abstract

Annual variation in flood frequency and hydroperiod during the vegetation season has ecological impacts on the floodplain biota. Although many insect groups may have a lower emergence during a flood event, it is poorly known how annual emergence of insects in temporary wetlands is related to the variation in hydrology. Between May and September, we studied the weekly emergence of 18 insect taxa over six consecutive years, 2002–2007, in six temporary flooded wetlands (four wet meadows and two forest swamps) in the River Dalälven floodplains, Central Sweden. We used emergence traps to collect emerging insects from terrestrial and aquatic parts of wet meadows and swamp forests. In all wetlands, the insect fauna was numerically dominated by the orders Diptera, Hymenoptera, Coleoptera and Homoptera. On a weekly basis, 9 out of the 18 insect taxa had lower emergence in weeks with flood than in weeks with no flood, whereas no taxon had a higher emergence in weeks with flood. Over the seasons, we related insect emergence to seasonal flood frequency and length of hydroperiod. The emergence of most studied taxa decreased with increasing hydroperiod, which suggests that emergence after floods do not compensate for the reduced emergence during floods. Only Culicidae and the aquatic Chironomidae sub-families Tanypodinae and Chironominae showed an increase in emergence with increasing hydroperiod, whereas Staphylinidae peaked at intermediate hydroperiod. We conclude that a hydroperiod covering up to 40% of the vegetation season has a significant negative effect on the emergence of most taxa and that only a few taxa occurring in the temporary wetlands are actually favoured by a flood regime with recurrent and unpredictable floods.

Keywords

flood frequencyhydroperiodinsect emergencetemporary wetlandswetland insectswetland managementwet meadows
Type
Research Paper
Information
Bulletin of Entomological Research , Volume 104 , Issue 4 , August 2014 , pp. 453 - 461
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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