Experimental Approaches to Understanding Temperature Responses of Select North Carolina Macroinvertebrates
Camp A, Hawkins C, Buchwalter D. 2015. Experimental Approaches to Understanding Temperature Responses of Select North Carolina Macroinvertebrates. National Park Service. Water Resources Research Institute of The University of North Carolina
This research demonstrated that there are basic physiological differences between aquatic insect species with different thermal preferences. This has major implications for the field of thermal biology and other related fields such as ecotoxicology. This research has also highlighted the utility of niche models in interpretation of biomonitoring data. For instance if a sampling site is experiencing increased thermal pollution, the niche model could be consulted to determine whether the water temperatures have surpassed upper thermal limits of any species that have disappeared from the site (see Appendix 1 for complete niche model data). Further, the niche model could be used to determine whether additional species may be at the edge of their tolerance, thus at risk of disappearing. The niche model provides an additional means of interpreting biomonitoring data with considerations of both chemical stressors and temperature. Ultimately this research is an important first step in understanding aquatic insect thermal biology and paves the way for future research in the field that will further improve our ability to interpret biomonitoring data. Includes specimens collected in Cataloochee Creek, GRSM.
- Type
- Unpublished Report
- Authors
- Camp, Allison; Hawkins, Charles; Buchwalter, David
- Date of Issue
- 2015-08
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- GRSM
- Keywords
- Aquatic Ecosystem, Cataloochee, critical thermal maximum, GRSM-02336, Macroinvertebrates, Metabolism, Oxygen Consumption, thermal tolerance