INSECT COMMUNITIES OF NEWFOUNDLAND BOG POOLS WITH EMPHASIS ON THE ODONATA

• Published in: The Canadian Entomologist
• Main Authors: Larson, D.J., House, N.L.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1990
• Subjects: Newfoundland
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.4039/ent122469-5; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0008347X00031011

Abstract The arthropod and annelid fauna of a series of small, acidic pools in a domed, ombrotrophic bog on the Avalon Peninsula, Newfoundland, was studied over the ice-free season of 1986. Pools were assigned to four classes on the basis of their surface area (<1; 1.1–10; 10.1–100; >100 m 2 ) and at least two 1-m 2 (entire pool if area <1 m 2 ) substrate samples, plankton samples, and moss samples were taken from pools of each size class biweekly. One hundred and thirty-one taxa, most identified to the species level, were collected. Taxa varied in abundance between pools of various size classes and, using Cluster Analysis and TWINSPAN, two principal communities were identified. Oligochaetes, beetles, and mosquitoes dominated small, astatic pools and odonates, chironomids, and several other taxa predominated in large, stable, vegetated pools. Water level stability is postulated to be the principal factor determining this community structure. Within large pools, odonate larvae were the dominant predators and comprised the majority of the standing crop. Odonate larvae have life cycles of 2 or more years; their slow growth is probably due to prey limitation. Odonate larvae potentially exert a powerful predation pressure within the large pool community, and may be the principal biotic factor determining abundance and distribution of prey taxa within the bog pool system.