Abstract
BOOK REVIEW Cite as follows: Murray, D.A. 2009 Bookreview: A guide to the identification ofgeneraof Chironomid pupal exuviae occurring in Britain and Ireland (including common genera from Northern Europe) and their use in monitoringlotie and lentie freshwaters. Biology and Environment: Proceedings of the RoyalIrish Academy 109B,61-62; DOI: 10.3318/BIOE. 2009.109.1.61. A Guide to the Identification of Genera of Chironomid Pupal Exuviae Occurring in Britain and Ireland (Including Common Genera fromNorthern Europe) and Their Use inMonitoring Lotie and Lentie Fresh Waters R.S. Wilson and L.P. Ruse (Ambleside,UK: FreshwaterBiological Associa tion, 2005; 176pp; Stg?20.00 paperback) ISBN 978-0-900386-73-2 This publication has practical applications for water-quality monitoring. It deals with the Chir onomidae (Diptera), a family of aquatic insects, approximately 600 species ofwhich are found in Britain and Ireland (about 500 species are on record from Ireland). Chironomid larvae occupy a broad range of habitats but hve in preferred/optimal ranges dictated by prevailing biotic and abiotic environment-controlling parameters. Discrimina tion between morphologically similarbut ecologi cally discrete larval taxa is often unreliable, and in many cases thepupal or adult stagesare required for species confirmation.Despite the significantrepre sentation of chironomid larvae in freshwaterhabi tats, the use of species-level chironomid larval determinations in aquatic monitoring studies is considered impossible by some researchers and seen as impractical and too time consuming for most monitoring programmes. Because of this, chironomids have been largelyneglected in 'main stream' water quality-monitoring studies. However, since the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) places a greater reliance on the aquatic biota in assessing environmental quality and recognises ecological quality in its own right, the Chironomidae merit renewed consideration be cause theyform such a significantcomponent of the biota. Chironomids spend the greater part of their fives as larvae before metamorphosing to a brief pupal stage and then emerging to an equally brief adult reproductive stage.Traditional species deter minations are based on the adult chironomid? mostly the adult male since the hypopygia are highly species-specific?but chironomid pupal exuviae (the skin from which the adult insect emerges) are highly patterned and exhibit many morphologically discrete features. Exuviae remain floating for some time on the water surface following emergence of the adult insect and are easy to collect. They may be readily identified to genus level and frequendy even to species level under a low-power microscope. The identification guide provided byWilson and Ruse facilitates the use of chironomids for ecological assessmentpurposes by having as its sole aim 'the easy identification of pupal exuviae'. Dr Roger Sweeting, Chief Executive of the Fresh water Biological Association, informs us in the preface that theChironomid Pupal Exuviae Tech nique (CPET) developed byWilson andRuse has been tested by theUK Environment Agency and has been trialled in Europe for use inmonitoring programmes to fulfil WFD requirements. The guide is set out in sections. Sections one and two give a brief introduction to theChirono midae, pupal exuviae and layout of the identifica tion keys, aswell as a detailed account of CPET, outlining the rationale, field and laboratorymeth odology, advantages and disadvantages, and appro priate basic statisticalprocedures used to analyse data. Sections three,four and five provide informa tion on the larval ecology of the eight subfamilies included in the guide, followed by practical descriptions of the morphology of chironomid pupal exuviae and a convenient glossary of terms. A simple key to exuviae of eight commonly encountered freshwater insects is given in section six, while keys to exuviae of the chironomid subfamilies and tribes are given in section seven. Additional explanatory notes on use of thekeys to thepupal exuviae are outlined in section eight, and the following six sections contain keys to CPET defined taxa?individual species, species groups or genus. Each determination end point, be itgenus, species group or species, has an assigned CPET tolerance group rating (A,B, C orD), representing tolerance to organic pollution based on published knowledge of the ecological requirements of genera and individual species and on the authors' own experience. In total, exuviae of some 145 genera and slightly more than 100 selected speciesmay be identifiedfrom the guide. A user-friendly listingof all taxa included...
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