Winter Stoneflies Research Articles

The relative importance of temperature and diet to larval development and adult size of the winter stonefly, Soyedina carolinensis (Piecoptera: Nemouridae)

SUMMARY. 1. Soyedina carolinensis Claassen, a leaf shredding stonefly, was reared in a series of three laboratory experiments from early instar to adult on different species of deciduous leaves and at various constant and fluctuating temperature regimes.2. Experiment 1, which involved rearing larvae on fourteen different leaf diets at ambient stream temperatures, showed that diet significantly affected larval growth and adult size but did not affect overall developmental time.3. Experiment 2, which involved rearing larvae on five different leaf diets at each of three fluctuating temperature regimes (viz ambient White Clay Creek (WCC), ambient WCC+3°C, and ambient WCC+6°C), showed that: (i) adding 6°C to the normal temperature regime of WCC was lethal to 99% of the larvae regardless of diet; and (ii) warming WCC by 3°C did not affect developmental time but did significantly reduce adult size relative to adults reared at WCC temperatures on certain diets.4. Experiment 3, which involved rearing larvae on five different leaf diets at each of five constant temperatures (viz 5, 10, 15, 20, 25°C), showed that: (i) temperature significantly affected the mortality, growth, and development time of larvae whereas diet only affected larval growth and mortality; (ii) temperatures at or near 10°C yielded maximum larval growth and survival for most diets; (iii) at 5°C, larval mortality was high and growth was low resulting in a few small adults for most diets; (iv) larval mortality was at or near 100% at 15°C regardless of diet; and (v) no larvae survived at 20 and 25°C.

Emergence of Plecoptera in two lotic habitats in the Oulanka National Park, northeastern Finland

The samples of emerging stoneflies obtained using slit traps indicated a three-phase course of emergence : early spring (two winter stoneflies), early summer (especially Perloidea) and autumn (a few abundant Nemouroidea). Early June and middle August are recommended as the sampling periods for benthon as far as stoneflies for bio-index studies are concerned.

NEW RECORDS OF WINTER STONEFLIES (PLECOPTERA) FROM MANITOBA WITH NOTES ON THEIR ZOOGEOGRAPHICAL ORIGINS

AbstractRecent collections (1980–1982) of winter stoneflies in southern Manitoba have resulted in the addition of five previously unrecorded species: Capnia coloradensis Claassen, C. confusa Claassen, Paracapnia angulata Hanson, Skwala parallela (Frison), and Utacapnia trava (Nebeker and Gaufin) to the nine previously recorded species. Eight of the 14 species now known from Manitoba occur in the small spring-fed streams on the east escarpment of the Duck Mountain Provincial Park. The probable zoogeographical origins and present distribution of winter stoneflies in Manitoba are explained in light of various post-glacial drainage patterns. Adults of U. trava were observed, often copulating, on the underside of the ice. They were also observed crawling away from streams with no ice cover to a distance of 50 m.

Seasonal and Longitudinal Changes in Invertebrate Functional Groups in the Dolores River, Colorado

A 46 km section of the Dolores River, in southwest Colorado, was studied to determine the relative abundance of invertebrate functional groups over an altitudinal gradient of 500 m during three seasons. The Dolores River is a third order stream with an average width of 11 m in the upper 8 km of the study area. In the lower 38 km of the study area, it is a fourth order stream with an average width of 15 m. Benthic invertebrates were collected with a modified Hess sampler in October 1980, and March and August 1981, from 11 stations on the Dolores River. Despite little change in either stream order, width or apparent food resources in the study area, there were noticeable differences in the relative abundance of functional groups, with shredders most abundant upstream and collectors most abundant in the mid-reaches. The observed trends were highly dependent upon season with shredders abundant at most stations only in spring. This was a result of life history patterns of winter stoneflies, the primary shredders. Collector-gatherers were most abundant at the upper-middle stations in summer, but were less abundant in the other two seasons. In general, the pattern appeared to conform more to the altitudinal shifts in benthic species composition than to stream order or width. This led to shifts in the assigned functional groups without noticeable changes in food resources.

Trophic Ecology of Three Winter Stoneflies (Plecoptera)

Winter stoneflies (Zapada oregonensis, Z. cinctipes and Capnia confusa) used detritus as a nymphal food almost exclusively and dominated the shredder biomass in a third-order mountain stream in Colorado. Laboratory feeding trials showed that ingestion rates and fecal production were temperature-dependent, although not greatly different between aspen or alder leaf discs. Assimilation efficiency (AE) was not temperature-dependent. Higher AE values for alder indicate that it is superior to aspen as a food source. High consumption rates (ca. 30% of body weight/day) by the shredders, even at low temperatures, would result in the conversion of considerable quantities of leaf litter to finer particles. However, size fraction analysis of egested material indicated that particle size reduction by shredder processing only partially explains detrital composition in a stream dominated by fine-particle feeding detritivores.

Biology of Winter Stoneflies in a Central Indiana Stream (Plecoptera)1

The winter stonefly fauna of Little Pine Creek, Warren County, Indiana, was sampled during the winters of 1967–68 and 1968–69. Weekly collections were taken from 6 sampling sites, each site provided with 4 sampling stations. Five species, Allocapnia recta (Claassen), A. granulata (Claassen), A. vivipara (Claassen), A. rickeri Frison, and Taeniopteryx burksi Ricker and Ross, occurred in the stream. Factors which account for species coexistence include differential seasonal development, preference for different stream-bottom types, and differing response to current-bottom interaction.

The Classification, Evolution and Dispersal of the Winter Stonefly Genus Allocapnia, by Herbert H. Ross and William E. Ricker [Review

The Classification, Evolution and Dispersal of the Winter Stonefly Genus Allocapnia, by Herbert H. Ross and William E. Ricker [Review

Diapause in the Nymphs of Canadian Winter Stoneflies

The nymphs of several winter stoneflies, Taeniopteryx burksi, T. nivalis, Brachyptera fasciata, Capnia manitoba, Allocapnia granulata, A. pygmaea, and A. vivipara, undergo a diapause during the summer. The diapause determines external morphological changes, which are described. This adaptation enables the species to inhabit streams that reach high temperatures or dry up during the summer; its advantages over the more common embryonic diapause are that it permits the nymphs to grow in both spring and fall and to seek a convenient site in which to aestivate.

POSTGLACIAL COLONIZATION OF CANADA BY ITS SUBBOREAL WINTER STONEFLIES OF THE GENUS ALLOCAPNIA

AbstractThe three boreal species of the winter stonefly genus Allocapnia, minima (Newport), pygmaea (Burmeister), and illinoensis Frison are subboreal species whose ranges include a band across eastern Canada from the western end of Lake Superior to the east coast; minima occurs also in Newfoundland. An analysis of variation in pygmaea and illinoensis suggests that during the Wisconsin glacial maximum these two species occurred south of the ice in the Cumberland Plateau region in east-central United States, and that they dispersed first northward through the Appalachians, then east and west into their present range. Geoclimatic evidence suggests that minima did not persist in Newfoundland during the glacial maximum. Its ecological similarity to pygmaea suggests that minima also persisted in the Cumberland Plateau area and dispersed in the same fashion as the other two species.

Variations in the Winter Stonefly Allocapnia granulata as Indicators of Pleistocene Faunal Movements1

The winter stonefly, Allocapnia granulata (Claassen), has the greatest east-west range of any species in the genus, occurring from the New England States to the Wichita Mountains in central Oklahoma. Variations discovered in the genitalic structures and wings of the males were plotted against several transects taken across the geographic range of the species. These indicate that the species contains an eastern population from the Atlantic Coast to central Illinois, and a western population occurring from central Missouri to central Oklahoma. The eastern population contains 2, the western 3 subpopulations. All are definable only on a modal basis. A phylogenetic analysis of the variants and their present geographic distribution indicates the following sequence of events. The progenitor of A. granulata probably originated in the Cumberland plateau-Appalachian region. The species spread northward, then divided into northern and southern populations, the northern one evolving shorter wings. Probably at the onset of the last glacial epoch, the more northern population moved south and westward as far as Oklahoma. Soon after, the main eastern and western populations became separated at about the mid-Illinois line. Subsequently the western population broke up into the subpopulations, but moved northward only slightly. As the glaciers dissipated, the eastern population moved northward, colonizing the deglaciated country from Minnesota to the East Coast.

GLACIERS AND WINTER STONEFLIES

Limnology and OceanographyVolume 7, Issue 1 p. 109-109 Notes and CommentFree Access GLACIERS AND WINTER STONEFLIES First published: April 1962 https://doi.org/10.4319/lo.1962.7.1.0109AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume7, Issue1April 1962Pages 109-109 RelatedInformation

Glaciers and Winter Stoneflies

Journal Article Glaciers and Winter Stoneflies Get access Bulletin of the Entomological Society of America, Volume 8, Issue 1, 1 March 1962, Page 14, https://doi.org/10.1093/besa/8.1.14 Published: 01 March 1962

Fall and Winter Stoneflies, or Plecoptera, of Illinois

In this paper are presented the results of an investigation of the biological and systematical characteristics of live genera, comprising eleven species, of the little-known fall and winter stoneflies occurring in Illinois. It has been found that these species differ biologically from one another in respect to their seasonal adjustments, the habitats they prefer, oviposition, and in many other details of their life histories. In opposition to general ideas concerning the food habits of the order as a whole, the adults as well as the nymphs were found to be herbivorous.