The importance of temporary waters for Diptera (true-flies).
Freshwater Forum, 17,
Flies are the largest order of wetland insects in Britain. Of 6668 known species, larvae of at least 1138 are considered to be aquatic while a large number, perhaps as many again, are associated with wetlands. Despite this abundance of species they have been neglected in nearly all studies of temporary ponds. The prerequisites that are usually quoted for surviving in temporary pools are an ability to reach maturity before the system dries out, physiological or behavioural mechanisms to survive the dry period, and an ability to recolonise. Larvae of many British wetland Diptera have these features, which should enable them to develop and survive in temporary ponds. Some examples are considered in this article, with brief comments on adaptations in insects from other geographical regions.
||The importance of temporary waters for Diptera (true-flies)
|Journal or Publication Title:
||Freshwater Biological Association
||Temporary ponds; Habitat; Insect larvae; Life cycle; Animal physiology; Aquatic insects; Adaptations; Wetlands; Diptera
Hardy B Schwamm
||02 Dec 2010 18:08
||29 Sep 2011 16:07
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