Diet and functional feeding groups of Chironomidae (Diptera) in the Middle Paraná River floodplain (Argentina)

Abstract

ABSTRACT. The gut contents of nine genera of benthic Chironominae and Tanypodinae from the Middle Paraná River floodplain habitats (a lake and a secondary channel) were analyzed to determine their feeding patterns and functional feeding groups. Amorphous detritus, animal and vegetal tissues, and mineral materials (predominantly sand) were observed in the larval guts. Amorphous detritus were the main food item found for Polypedilum (Tripodura) sp., Chironomus gr. decorus sp., Endotribelos sp., Phaenopsectra sp., Cladopelma sp., and Pelomus sp. (Chironominae), while animal tissues (mainly oligochaetes) were the most important food item found for Ablabesmyia (Karelia) sp., Coelotanypus sp., and Procladius sp. (Tanypodinae). Dietary overlap was calculated for all pairs of genera. Within predators, the highest overlap was obtained between Coelotanypus sp. and Ablabesmyia (Karelia) sp., while within detritivores the highest niche overlap was obtained between Endotribelos sp. and Phaenopsectra sp.

Chironomidae larvae associated with Eichhornia azurea leaf detritus: decomposition community structure and colonization dynamics

“…Most Chironomids are omnivorous (Berg 1995;Galizzi et al 2012). Analysis of the Chironomid trophic structure with stable isotopes showed a broad variety of feeding behaviors between taxa, suggesting that Chironomids do not belong to specific groups in the aquatic trophic web (Henriques-Oliveira et al 2003;Reuss et al 2013;Silveira et al 2013;Saito and Fonseca-Gessner 2014).…”

“…The presence of all functional Chironomid groups at all decomposition stages may be related to a generalist strategy to obtain food, since most taxa in this group are omnivorous (Berg 1995;Galizzi et al 2012) and consume a large amount of detritus (Henriques-Oliveira et al 2003;Silveira et al 2013;Saito and FonsecaGessner 2014). In macrophyte decomposition experiments, detritus is noted as the most abundant food resource, which accounts for the high density of Chironomids observed in decomposition studies.…”

“…The functional trophic group of each Chironomid genus was determined following Coffman and Ferrington (1996), Henriques-Oliveira et al (2003) and Galizzi et al (2012). The functional trophic groups were defined following methods described in Gonçalves et al (2003), Janke and Trivinho-Strixino (2007), Zilli et al (2008), Silva et al (2008), Ligeiro et al (2010), Silva et al (2010), and Silva et al (2011).…”

“…The production of detritus is more intense in tropical lentic ecosystems, which are characterized by high temperatures and high availability of nutrients (Bianchini 2007). A large amount of detritus is consumed by larvae of the family Chironomidae (Henriques-Oliveira et al 2003;Silveira et al 2013;Saito and Fonseca-Gessner 2014), which consists mostly of omnivorous species (Berg 1995;Galizzi et al 2012).…”

Biometry of neotropical invertebrates inhabiting floodplain rivers: unraveling bionomy

“…In wetlands of the Paraná River they are benthic or associated to macrophytes, with high abundance and richness (Poi de Neiff & Neiff, 2006;Ezcurra de Drago et al, 2007). In addition, they can reach high biomass and secondary production (Zilli, 2012(Zilli, , 2013Zilli & Paggi, 2013) and link basal sources with higher trophic levels (Galizzi et al, 2012;Saigo et al, 2015).…”