Mapping the range shifts of East River Valley caddisflies <i> (Trichoptera) </i>
Abstract
Range shifts occur when all individuals of a species or population move from a previously- habitable area to a newly-habitable area in response to changing environmental conditions. Climate- induced range shifts are well-documented for certain regions, biomes, and taxa, but large knowledge gaps exist for the Western Hemisphere and for aquatic macroinvertebrates specifically. There is a need to understand how climate-induced range shifts of aquatic macroinvertebrates are occurring, especially for taxa which have marked effects on ecosystem functioning, such as detritus shredders. Thirty years of aquatic sampling at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory have revealed that Trichoptera species seem to be shifting their ranges, but the details of this observation have not been quantified. My project aimed to map and describe the multidimensional ranges (and later, range shifts) of caddisflies in this region using survey data and GIS technology. I mapped the current ranges of twelve species in the region and found results consistent with previous studies on life histories, predator vulnerability, and pond hydroperiod tolerance. I will continue this project as part of my senior thesis, which will specifically entail investigating previous ranges and describing range shifts through time and space. These results have several broad-scale implications. First, quantifying which new combinations of species are emerging across the landscape provides a jumping point to researchers wanting to study population and community studies focused on the interactions among species of caddisflies. Second, it also allows ecologists to ask new questions: what are the ecosystem functioning consequences of new community structuring with these taxa? What limits ranges and range shifts for these taxa?
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References (29)
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