The impact of agricultural land use on the composition and structure of aquatic insect assemblages (i.e., taxa of Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, Trichoptera, and Coleoptera (EPTC)) was investigated in tributary streams of the Garonne river basin, southern France. The self-organizing map (SOM) method was applied to compare both instream environmental conditions and EPTC assemblages between forest and agricultural streams. According to the SOM model, the study sites were classified into three main clusters corresponding to distinct EPTC assemblages. The SOM cluster associated with most of the agricultural sites had lower EPTC species richness and diversity. This cluster was also characterized by high levels of total dissolved solids, nitrate (NO 3 ), and chemical oxygen demand. Overall, our study shows that agricultural streams when compared with forest streams had lower biological integrity. In accordance with the European Water Framework Directive, our results indicate that the sites most impacted by agricultural land use should be restored and that the least-impacted forest sites could serve as reference conditions.

Mayflies (Ephemeroptera) are known to have short adult life-spans. Adults are unable to feed, and they utilize reserves stored during their aquatic larval stage. Energy reserves (fat, glycogen, and free sugars) of mature larvae, subimagoes and imagoes of both sexes of Siphlonurus aestivalis Eaton were compared. All the stages of both sexes had low glycogen and free sugar contents, and the only significant change occurred during the transformation of the mature larva to subimago when almost all the reserves of free sugars were used up. Glycogen and free sugars may serve as energy sources permitting individuals to swim and fly out of the water during emergence. Fat made up most of the energy reserves of mature larvae and was the main source of energy used during the final development of both sexes. Young adult males had high fat reserves which they used as a source of energy for their swarming flights. In contrast, females did not seem to use a significant amount of fat for flight. This difference is probably related to the different mating strategies of the sexes in this species. Males perform long flights waiting for females, whereas females perform only brief flights to mate and reproduce.

In the crowded parts of patches of Hieracium floribundum Wimm. and Grab., which were established for at least a decade in an ungrazed pasture, 7–10% of the population (3700 individuals/m2) flowered. Of the plants that flowered, 94% were alive a year later, but only 5% of these flowered. Abortion of flower heads was common; one half of all those which were initiated in early June had aborted by flowering time in early July. Freshly dispersed seed had a viability of 57%, which was reduced to 17% a year later, after its storage close to the soil surface. Less than 6% of the viable seed was innately dormant. Dry, laboratory-stored seed retained its viability for the year but was slower to germinate than soil-stored seed. In field conditions, germination was temperature inhibited during most of the growing season. Maximum daytime microsite temperatures of less than 32 °C, which is necessary for germination, were found to occur only in early spring and late fall. Successful seedling establishment accounts for 1% of the individuals in a crowded population. Based on the maximum sexual reproduction from plants in crowded populations, a seed has a probability of 1 in 20 000 of becoming an established seedling. A model of population dynamics in a high-density patch traces the fate of seedling establishment, surviving adults, and stolon-derived rosettes for a single year.