2022 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Virtual Conference
March 13 - 15, 2022
5/24/2018 | 2:15 PM - 2:30 PM | INFLUENCE OF THERMAL REGIME ON THE LIFE HISTORIES OF ROCKY MOUNTAIN AQUATIC INSECTS: A FIELD TEST OF THE THERMAL EQUILIBRIUM HYPOTHESIS | 420 A
INFLUENCE OF THERMAL REGIME ON THE LIFE HISTORIES OF ROCKY MOUNTAIN AQUATIC INSECTS: A FIELD TEST OF THE THERMAL EQUILIBRIUM HYPOTHESIS
Vannote and Sweeney’s Thermal Equilibrium Hypothesis (TEH) predicted that aquatic insect taxa have evolved at a specific range of temperatures where their life history traits such as metabolism, growth rate, and generation time vary with temperature, producing the largest adult body size and fecundity at an 'optimum' temperature. At this optimum, population densities should be maximized; at temperatures outside of this “thermal equilibrium,” taxa are predicted to be less productive. A competing hypothesis, the temperature size rule (TSR), predicts that individuals developing at cold temperatures will grow more slowly, but attain larger body sizes than individuals growing at warmer temperatures.
Few studies have investigated the TEH in the field. This study examines how life history traits of four aquatic insect species vary across a natural annual thermal gradient. Results suggest that temperature influences the growth rate, adult body size, fecundity, and generation time of at least some of these species (Hydropsychidae, Ephemerellidae), whereas the TSR was supported across species. In light of global warming trends, these results are integral to understanding how stream temperature influences aquatic insect physiology, which may lead to shifts in species’ geographic ranges and stream communities.
- Temperature
- Life History
- Primary Production
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Presenters/Authors
Jennifer McCarty
(), Montana State University, jendmccarty@gmail.com;
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