Food habits of some benthic invertebrates in a northern cool-desert stream (Deep Creek, Curlew Valley, Idaho–Utah)

Publication Type:

Journal Article

Authors:

Koslucher, Dale G.; G. Wayne Minshall

Source:

Transactions of the American Microscopical Society, American Microscopical Society / Wiley, Volume 92, Issue 3, p.441-452 (1973)

Call Number:

A73KOS01IDUS

URL:

http://www.jstor.org/stable/3225248

Keywords:

Amphipoda, Argia vivida, Baetis tricaudatus, Cladophora glomerata, Colyoptera, Diptera, Enallagma anna, Ephemeroptera, Gammarus lacustris, Hyalella azteca, Hydropsyche occidentalis, Odonata, Ophiogomphus severus, Optioservus divergens, Simulium argus, Trichoptera, Tricorythodes minutus

Abstract:

The food habits of several important species of invertebrates inhabiting a northern cool-desert stream were studied on a seasonal basis. The foods eaten were quantified according to frequency of occurrence and compared with potential foods available in the environment. An assortment of diatoms (Bacillariophyceae) and the filamentous alga Cladophora glomerata (Chlorophyta) were the only important living constituents in the diets of the herbivores; no aquatic vascular plant material was found, even when it was abundant in the stream. Plant detritus was the other important food for the herbivores. Of eight invertebrate species studied in detail, five were herbivores, feeding mainly on diatoms and detritus: Hyalella azteca (Amphipoda), Baetis tricaudatus and Tricorythodes minutus (Ephemeroptera), Hydropsyche occidentalis (Trichoptera), and Simulium argus (Diptera). Three others, Argia vivida, Enallagma anna, and Ophiogomphus severus (Odonata), consistently were carnivorous. Other groups studied less extensively included the herbivores Gammarus lacustris (Amphipoda), Sigara sp. (Hemiptera), Optioservus divergens (Coleoptera), Limnephilus frijole (Trichoptera), and Chironomidae (Diptera) and the omnivore Pacifastacus gambelli (Decapoda). There were no evident differences between size of the animals and the kinds of foods eaten nor between time of the year and diet. In general, the invertebrate animals in Deep Creek were opportunistic and fed in proportion to the foods present.

Notes:

ELECTRONIC FILE - Zoology: Invertebrates

CSE-style Citation: Koslucher DG, Minshall GW. 1973. Food habits of some benthic invertebrates in a northern cool-desert stream (Deep Creek, Curlew Valley, Idaho–Utah). Transactions of the American Microscopical Society. 92:441-452.