Survey of Chironomidae (Insecta: Diptera) from the Kuskokwim River watershed in western Alaska

• Main Authors: Hayford, Barbara L., Newell, Robert L., Crete, Zach J.
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: BYU ScholarsArchive 2014
• Subjects: Kuskokwim; Alaska
• Online Access: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/wnan/vol74/iss2/6; https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/context/wnan/article/1426/viewcontent/33034.pdf

Rapidly declining diversity of freshwater species necessitates surveys to document and describe patterns in biodiversity. To this end, a survey of Chironomidae (Insecta: Diptera) was conducted in a remote watershed of western Alaska. Larval chironomids were collected from 16 stream sites in the Kuskokwim River watershed in 2009 and 2010. Twenty-seven chironomid taxa were identified. Orthocladiinae was the most diverse subfamily and was numerically dominant at all sites except a glacial runoff stream where Diamesinae was numerically dominant. Two rare chironomids were collected in the study: an undescribed species of Stilocladius and a species ofOrthocladius (Mesorthocladius). The latter genus has only 2 described species in North America, one in Ohio and one in Minnesota. Results of a nonmetric multidimensional scaling analysis indicated that sites varied based on changes in elevation, conductivity, pH, and percent Diamesinae. Two high-elevation sites, one at the outflow of a lake and the other located along the glacial runoff stream, supported the most taxa in this study. Another lower-elevation springbrook also supported a relatively diverse assemblage of chironomids. Otherwise, diversity and richness was low at most sites. In Chironomidae, adults are often necessary for identification of many taxa to species, and so collection of adults should be a focus of future sampling of streams in western Alaska.Debido a que la diversidad de algunas especies de agua dulce está disminuyendo con rapidez, es importante que se lleven a cabo estudios que documenten y describan los patrones de biodiversidad. Con este fin, se realizó un estudio sobre los Quironómidos (Insecta: Diptera) en una cuenca remota al oeste de Alaska. Se colectaron larvas de quironómidos de dieciséis arroyos en la cuenca del río Kuskokwim en los años 2009 y 2010. Se identificaron 27 taxa de quironómidos. Orthocladiinae fue la subfamilia con mayor diversidad y la más numerosa en todos los lugares, excepto en el caso de la escorrentía de un arroyo ...