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Abstract
Chironomid (Diptera: Chironomidae) larvae play an important role in a wide range of aquatic ecosystems. The study focuses on Chironomidae trophic guilds and morphological types as indicator traits in reconstructions of habitat changes in shallow water bodies. Mentum and ventromental plates are important mouthparts whose shape depends on food type and feeding behavior. Chironomidae larvae strongly vary in the mode of life and feeding habits, representing almost every feeding group. Here we classified the mentum types into 16 groups and tested if they indicated similar past habitat changes as the Chironomidae functional feeding groups (FFGs), and tribes/subfamilies. Paleoecological data of biotic and abiotic proxies were derived from short sequences from a Late Glacial oxbow and a nearby medieval moat located in Central Poland. The study revealed that the habitat substratum structure, vegetation and physicochemical conditions are associated both with the feeding types and morphological traits. This provides a valuable tool for future reconstructions of habitat changes.
Highlights
Chironomidae are one of the most abundant and ubiquitous groups of aquatic insects
The Chironomidae taxonomic and functional diversity across various environmental gradients have been already studied in several regions of the world (e.g., Miloševicet al., 2018; Jiang et al, 2019; Motta and Massaferro, 2019; Ni et al, 2020), while Nevalainen et al (2015) focused on the results provided by the subfossil chironomid assemblages
There are eleven Chironomidae subfamilies, three of them are the most species-rich: Chironominae, Orthocladiinae, and Tanypodinae (Brooks et al, 2007; Ferrington, 2008). We focus on these subfamilies, as their representatives were found in examined sediments
Summary
Chironomidae are one of the most abundant and ubiquitous groups of aquatic insects Their sensitivity to changing limnological conditions and species-specific environmental preferences make them good ecological indicators (Armitage et al, 1995; Porinchu and MacDonald, 2003). Water pH exceeding 7.5 eliminates many taxa, reducing species richness It is associated with increased eutrophication and oxygen deficiencies (Brooks et al, 2007). The extraordinarily wide spectrum of preferred water trophic states makes chironomids good indicators of lake nutrient status (Saether, 1979; Walker, 2001; Porinchu and MacDonald, 2003)
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