This, thefirst of two papers on the ecology of temporary streams, describes, in detail, the faunas of two such habitats in southeastern Canada. The adaptive mechanisms for coping with the summer drought are documented for a variety of species and faunal succession is shown to occur from the stream stage (fall-winter) through the pool stage (spring) to the terrestrial (summer).
I. IntroductionThis is the first of two papers dealing with the ecology of temporary stream faunas. I n it, we propose to present the detailedfindings of work on two temporary streams in Ontario, Canada. This will lay the foundations for the second paper in which we will attempt to summarize what is known of these habitats and to underline how the members of what is essentially an aquatic community, deal with the terrestrial phase of their environment.
Previous literatureThere have been few studies on temporary streams as such, but there is a copious literature dealing with temporary ponds and other small water bodies. Whereas the differences between permanent lotic and lentic habitats may be very considerable indeed, in the temporary water situation, because many of these streamsflow slowly and often dry up to pools, we find considerable overlaps.ABELL (1956) in a study of intermittency in foothill streams of central California, made extensive faunal lists and tried to explain these in terms of three groups: 7 62 D. D. WILLIAMS and H. B. N. HYNES 1. a rapidly appearing but essentially temporary fall association which tended towards a herbivo-2. a winter and spring succession which tended to replace the fall forms and represented a step 3. a summer cleanup crew consisting mostly of predators and scavengers. He found that these animals employed three methods of survival in the dry stages of these habitats, namely, dormancy within the habitat, transfer of activity to another environment, and retreat to a more favourable habitat to await resumption of flow. The latter was apparently the most variably and successfully used, permitting almost any sort of life history timing. Eighty percent of ABELL'S temporary stream fauna were insects.CLIFFORD (1966) in a study of a temporary stream in Indiana, divided the fauna into two groups with respect to season. The first was a late summer-fall association, characteristic of the stream when i t was dry or nearly so. It consisted of adventitious species and adult aquatic beetles. The second was a later winter-spring association, characteristic of conditions of flow. Its constituents were mainly permanent residents which appeared year after year and were the basis for a stable community. Apparently, many of the latter were not specifically adapted t o this kind of environment, but possessed certain pre-adaptations which favoured them over others. Lirceus fontinah and Crangonyx forbesi were the two most abundant organisms and both survived the summer drought as small individuals buried in the substrate.HARRISON (1966) observed that the Munwahuku stream near Salisbury, Rhodesia, became dry for 3 mo...