Abstract
Environments such as floodplains and the marshlands of rivers, lakes and ponds, are important habitats for aquatic insects adapted to lentic water conditions. In addition, ponds and paddy fields artificially created for agriculture are also important alternative habitats for lotic water-dependent wildlife. In this study, we focused on aquatic insects in ponds in the Matsumoto Basin, located in the center of Japan. Although this is an urbanized area, aquatic animals adapted to floodplains inhabit it at a relatively high density for Japan. We conducted a multifaceted evaluation of the environments of the 33 ponds in this region and conducted a survey of the aquatic insect fauna inhabiting them. In this study, we conducted quantitative sampling, focusing on two insect orders adapted to large-scale lentic water environments (i.e., Heteroptera and Coleoptera), and observed five species of three families and 16 species of five families from the Matsumoto Basin, respectively. Within these species, eight endangered species were included. Furthermore, we carried out a genetic structure analysis for the giant water bug, Appasus japonicus, inhabiting these ponds in high density, and conducted a comparative evaluation of their genetic diversity between these ponds. A total of 530 specimens of A. japonicus were genetically analyzed for the mitochondrial DNA COI region, and 26 haplotypes were observed. The degree of genetic diversity between the ponds was clearly demonstrated. In addition, we discussed the wintering possibilities for the giant water bugs based on their corresponding surrounding environmental factors, and comprehensively discussed their “source−sink” relationships in this region. Therefore, this is a comprehensive study focused on the relevant environmental factors, diversification of their community structures, their population structures, and their genetic structure at a fine scale.
Highlights
Environments such as floodplains and the marshes of rivers, lakes, and ponds, are important habitats for aquatic insects adapted to lentic water conditions [1,2,3]
From the 29 ponds where the specimens of A. japonicus were collected, 20 individuals were respectarbitrarily to the ponds where number of captures was less than individuals, as many extracted fromthe those specimens collected at each pond and20genetically analyzed
In a previous study no genetic analysis was conducted, it did investigate the effects of various environmental factors in irrigation ponds on their lentic aquatic insect community structures, using the “Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA)” method [35]
Summary
Environments such as floodplains and the marshes of rivers, lakes, and ponds, are important habitats for aquatic insects adapted to lentic water conditions [1,2,3]. Insects 2020, 11, 389 species [4,5], and even for species adapted to lotic water conditions. This is because such environments function as areas of refuge during floods, overwintering areas, and as breeding areas [6,7]. In recent years, river improvement projects in urban areas have caused a decline in the availability of lentic water environments, such as floodplains and marshland environments, which has become an extremely serious problem. The freshwater lentic environments face quite severe threats, including that of artificial environments [8,9,10]
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