Winter Stoneflies (Plecoptera) in Seasonal Habitats in New Mexico, USA

Can biological invertebrate traits resolve effects of multiple stressors on running water ecosystems?

“…under reduced discharge) in both North America and Australia (Williams, 1996) (see also our Table 3). Jacobi & Cary (1996) reported that New Mexican winter stoneflies from streams that dried for long periods in spring and autumn were weak fliers (i.e. did not have the high dispersal potential reported by Williams for other insects), but survived periods of no or very low discharge because other trait categories conferred resistance or resilience to this stress (Table 4).…”

“…Thus, to assess the effects of discharge variation, one should decompose it into the individually acting physical stressors that may Table 4 Invertebrate trait category responses to discharge variation. See Table 3 and text for more detailed explanations Temporary flow in general (Williams, 1996) Highly diverse immature forms (+), long-lived adults (+), highly adaptable life cycles (+), development strongly linked to temperature (+), terrestrial immature stages (+), parthenogenesis (+), high dispersal potential (+), egg diapause (+), desiccation-protected eggs (+), staggered egg hatching (+), water surface ⁄ air breathing (+) and ⁄ or generalist feeder (+) Temporary flow in New Mexico (Jacobi & Cary, 1996) Small size (+), rapid development as egg or larva (+), weakly flying adults (+) and ⁄ or diapause during egg or larval stages (+) Discharge temporality in mediterranean Catalonia (Bonada, Rieradevall, Pratt, 2007b) Permanent sites: aquatic eggs (+) Intermittent sites: small size (>0.25-0.5 cm) (+), isolated free eggs ()), egg clutches in aquatic vegetation (+), asexual reproduction ()), aquatic passive dispersal ()), aerial active dispersal (+), diapause ⁄ dormancy (+), tegument respiration ()), aerial respiration (+), flier (+), swimmer (+), burrower ()), interstitial life ()), fine detritus food ()) and ⁄ or living microinvertebrate food (+)…”

Downward, upstream or downstream? Assessment of meio- and macrofaunal colonization patterns in a gravel-bed stream using artificial substrates

“…Many invertebrate taxa use the interstitial area as a nursery zone, for the deposition and incubation of eggs and the growth of young instars (Jacobi and Cary, 1996), or as refuge, against droughts (Boulton, 1989;Bo et al, 2006), high superficial temperatures (Boulton et al, 1998) or strong sheer stress during high-discharge events (Bruno et al, 2009) and catastrophic floods (e.g., Lancaster and Hildrew, 1993;Dole-Olivier et al, 1997). The interstitial habitat therefore plays a crucial role in the potential recolonization of benthic substrate, being a continuous source of colonists (Mackay, 1992;Elser, 2001;Fowler, 2002), although the temporal changes in hyporheic invertebrate communities are still poorly known (Marmonier et al, 2012).…”

“…This shallow portion of sediment often acts as a nursery habitat for early life stages of several benthic invertebrates (Bretschko, 1992;Jacobi and Cary, 1996). Vertical movements can also be related to habitat changes occurring during the different phases of the life cycle, for instance Baetidae and several Plecoptera are known to actively exploit resources in the ground water system as well as seek protection from unfavourable situations in the surface environment for the early stages part of their life cycle (Williams, 1984;Marmonier et al, 1993;Gibert et al, 1994).…”

Colonisation patterns and vertical movements of stream invertebrates in the interstitial zone: a case study in the Apennines, NW Italy

“…The water flowing in the riverbed pore system constitutes an essential and peculiar habitat that may support rich and diversified macroinvertebrate assemblages (Giller & Malmqvist, 1998). Many invertebrate taxa use the interstitial area as a nursery zone, for the deposition and incubation of eggs and the growth of small instars (Jacobi & Cary, 1996), or as refuge, suggesting that macroinvertebrates migrate into the hyporheic zone to survive catastrophic hydrological events (Dole-Olivier et al, 1997) and to escape high surface water temperatures (Boulton et al, 1998) or droughts (Boulton, 1989). For these reasons, estimates of secondary production in streams are substantially greater when the interstitial fauna is included in the calculations: for example, Huryn (1996) demonstrated that the total benthos production was sufficient to explain the observed fish production in a New Zealand stream only when the sub-substratum production was taken into account.…”