Temperature and the Biomass of Flying Midges (Diptera: Chironomidae) in the High Arctic

Hodkinson, I. D.; Coulson, S.J.; Webb, N. R.; Block, William; Strathdee, A. T.; Bale, J. S.; Worland, M. R.

doi:10.2307/3546247

Cited by 47 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…Looking at annual lake-level data, there was great fluctuation in chironomid emergence, but these fluctuations were not influenced by weekly changes in air temperature. Water temperature and light intensity are primary determinants of development speed of chironomid larvae (Danks & Oliver, 1972;Learner & Potter, 1974;Hodkinson et al, 1996). Shading, wind Between-year variation in mean chironomid emergence (animals per trap and week) in lakes that produced on average at least 0.3 duck broods per km shoreline.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hatching in dabbling ducks and emergence in chironomids: a case of predator–prey synchrony?

et al. 2009

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It has been hypothesized that dabbling ducks (Anas spp.) time breeding to coincide with annual regional peaks in emerging dipterans, especially Chironomidae, which are important prey for newly hatched ducklings. However, this hypothesis has never been evaluated in a replicated lake-level study, including year effects in emergence patterns. We collected duck and invertebrate data from 12 lakes during the nesting seasons 1989-1994 in a watershed in southern Finland. The oligotrophic study lakes are typical of the boreal Holarctic, as are the three focal duck species: mallard Anas platyrhynchos L., widgeon Anas penelope L and teal Anas crecca L. Hatching of ducklings showed a clear peak in relation to ambient phenology (annual ice-out date of lakes), whereas chironomid emergence was more erratic and showed no clear peak at the lake level, although total watershed-level emergence was somewhat higher before and long after the duck hatching peak. Thus, we find no evidence that ducklings hatch in synchrony with abundance peaks of emerging chironomids. There was large withinyear temporal variation in chironomid emergence among lakes, but this was not correlated with ambient temperature. The rank of individual lakes with respect to the abundance of emerging chironomids was consistent among as well as within years, a predictability that ought to make adaptive lake choice by ducks possible. On the lake level, there was a positive correlation between the total amount of emerging chironomids and brood use. We argue that emergence patterns of chironomids on typical boreal lakes are neither compressed nor predictable enough to be a major selective force on the timing of egglaying and hatching in dabbling ducks. Despite spatial (among-lake) patterns of abundance of emerging chironomids being predictable within and among years, the observed pattern of brood use suggests that other factors, e.g. habitat structure, also affect lake choice.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hatching in dabbling ducks and emergence in chironomids: a case of predator–prey synchrony?

et al. 2009

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“…The success of colonising new localities is highly dependent on the climatic conditions at the time of swarming. Year‐to‐year fluctuations in spring warming (Lindegaard & Brodersen, 2000) and seasonal temperature regimes (degree‐days) can have pronounced influence on swarming activity and the total chironomid biomass emerging from the lakes (Hodkinson et al ., 1996). Consequently, surface water temperature was also found to explain a substantial amount of variance in the West Greenland species data.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Distribution of chironomids (Diptera) in low arctic West Greenland lakes: trophic conditions, temperature and environmental reconstruction

2002

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1. Surface sediment samples of subfossil chironomid head capsules from 47 lakes in southern West Greenland were analysed using multivariate numerical methods in order to explore the relationship between chironomid assemblages and selected environmental variables. The study lakes are located along a climate gradient ranging from coastal maritime conditions near the Davis Strait to a continental climate near the margin of the Greenland ice sheet. 2. High‐resolution surface water temperatures were measured through the summer season using automatic data loggers in 21 of the study lakes. The mean July surface water temperature (1999) ranged from 7.3 to 16.5 °C in the data set. 3. In all lakes, a total of 24 chironomid taxa were recorded; Micropsectra, Psectrocladius, Chironomus and Procladius were the dominant genera. There was a strong correlation between the trophic variables [total nitrogen and total phosphorus (TN, TP)] and temperature, and in redundancy analysis (RDA) the three variables explained almost equal significant amounts of variation in the chironomid data (19.8–22.3%). However, temperature lost significant explanatory power when the effect of TN was partialled out in RDA. 4. The lakes were classified using two‐way indicator species analysis (TWINSPAN) into eight groups defined by temperature, trophic variables, salinity (conductivity) and lake‐morphometric data. Fourteen chironomid taxa showed significant differences in percentage abundances among groups, with Heterotrissocladius, Micropsectra, Ablabesmyia and Chironomus as the most robust group‐indicator taxa. Forward selection of taxa in multiple discriminant analysis was used to fit chironomid assemblages into lake groups. Using only eight taxa, 95% of lakes were correctly classified at a second TWINSPAN division level (four groups) and 85% of lakes at a third division level (eight groups). 5. This study showed that there is considerable potential in using subfossil chironomid head capsules as paleoenvironmental indicators in both short‐ and long‐term (down‐core) studies of lake ontogeny and palaeoclimate conditions in West Greenland. However, because of the strong correlation between temperature and trophic variables, a quantitative reconstruction of lake‐ and habitat‐type is recommended, in combination with direct reconstruction of single variables such as temperature.

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“…Figure 1 and 2 presents the detailed food web for an area of around 2 km 2 adjacent to Ny‐Ålesund, W. Spitsbergen Svalbard, incorporating the proglacial areas of Midtre Lovénbreen (a glacier) and an area of mature vegetation that has been undisturbed by glaciation for around 2000 years (Coulson et al 2003a, Hodkinson et al 2003a). It is based on information gathered during intensive sampling programmes extending over several years (Hodkinson et al 1996, 1998, 2003a, b, 2004, Coulson et al 2002, 2003a, b, unpubl.). The emphasis is on soil‐dwelling and free‐living terrestrial invertebrates, particularly arthropods (Fig.…”

Section: Species Richness Of Selected Terrestrial Invertebrate Taxa Fmentioning

confidence: 99%

Are high Arctic terrestrial food chains really that simple? – The Bear Island food web revisited

Hodkinson

Coulson

2004

Oikos

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Summerhayes and Elton's (1923) “nitrogen cycle” diagram for Bear Island (Bjørnøya), Svalbard, is widely used to illustrate the organisation of high Arctic food webs. We present a revision of the terrestrial section of this food web based on 12 years work on Spitsbergen, Svalbard. The level of complexity is much greater than Summerhayes and Elton suggested and the implications for ecological theory are discussed. In particular the low level of primary productivity does not appear to restrict the length of ectotherm food chains. This may in part be due to the open nature of the ecosystem, which receives energy/nutrient subsidies in the form of allochthonous wind‐blown insects and detritus, particularly from surrounding aquatic environments. Connectivity is also significantly higher. Our data support the increasingly accepted view that many food webs presented in the literature are gross oversimplifications and that analysis of their structure can produce misleading conclusions.

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Temperature and the Biomass of Flying Midges (Diptera: Chironomidae) in the High Arctic

Cited by 47 publications

References 19 publications

Hatching in dabbling ducks and emergence in chironomids: a case of predator–prey synchrony?

Hatching in dabbling ducks and emergence in chironomids: a case of predator–prey synchrony?

Distribution of chironomids (Diptera) in low arctic West Greenland lakes: trophic conditions, temperature and environmental reconstruction

Are high Arctic terrestrial food chains really that simple? – The Bear Island food web revisited

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