10.21973/N3H080
Marley O’Connor
Emily Mun
Cole Dawdy
Isa Rosario-Martinez
Predaceous diving beetles, Ilybius walsinghami, prefer organic debris for shelter in the San Jacinto Mountains, Indian Creek
University of California Natural Reserve System
2021
Text
choice experiment
substrate
Ilybius walsinghami
hydrology
San Jacinto Mountains
Kathleen Wong
Kathleen
Wong
University of California Natural Reserve System
Spring 2021
pdf
Due to climatic changes, stream habitats are projected to be exposed to more frequent and intense floods. Floods can dramatically alter the stream ecosystem by lowering aquatic invertebrate abundance and richness, changing stream substrate composition, and impacting microhabitat availability. Depending on the substrate preferences of individual species, aquatic invertebrate populations could be impacted not only directly by floods, but also in their ability to re-populate highly altered stream habitats. In this study, we focused on exploring the substrate preferences of Ilybius walsinghami, a species of predaceous diving beetle common in freshwater stream ecosystems, by conducting a combination of an observational study as well as two choice-experiments. We found that I. walsinghami prefers fallen organic debris over rock, green algae, and sand for shelter preference. Our findings can be utilized for future projections to estimate how I. walsinghami may be impacted by increased high-intensity floods.
Volume 5, Issue 4
James San Jacinto Mountains Reserve
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