New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research abstracts

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The invertebrate fauna of a forest stream and its association with fine particulate matter

M. J. WINTERBOURN

Department of Zoology University of Canterbury Private Bag Christchurch 1, New Zealand

Abstract The invertebrate fauna colonising wooden blocks placed in a beech forest stream was studied over a period of 1 year. At least 31 species were taken during the course of the study, with 3 species of Chironomidae predominating numerically. Most species were associated principally with fine particulate matter (FPM) deposited on the upper surfaces of blocks, although a stonefly, Spaniocerca zelandica, was most abundant on the barer surfaces. Of the Chironomidae, Paucispinig-era approximata and Polypedilum canum had clearly defined life history patterns with emergence from February to April and October to January, respectively. Psectrocladius sp. had a poorly defined life history. Gut contents of 16 insect species showed that 4 were predominantly predatory, and the remainder were detritivores. The latter could be categorised as shredders (large particle detritivores) or collector-browsers which mainly ingested particles in the dominant (<50 u,m) size range. Oxygen consumption by fine stream sediments was similar at different times of year which suggests that the food quality of detritus may tie relatively constant at all times.

Keywords detritus; detritivores; streams; invertebrates; colonisation; Chironomidae; Plecopt-era; Cass; artificial substrata; settlement; carnivores

New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 1982, Vol. 16 : 271-281
Received 4 May 1982; accepted 16 August 1982

PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (1205K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)

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