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Climate Change and the Life Histories and Biogeography of Aquatic Insects in Eastern North America

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Global Climate Change and Freshwater Ecosystems

Abstract

One of the most important factors affecting the life history characteristics and biogeography of aquatic insects is temperature (Sweeney, 1984). Insects are poikilothermic (cold-blooded) animals whose metabolism, rate and magnitude of growth, development, and overall behavioral activities respond significantly to thermal change on a diel, seasonal, and annual basis (Ward and Stanford, 1982). Despite this sensitivity to temperature, most aquatic insect species can be found in aquatic habitats over a broad geographic area that includes a wide range of thermal regimes. Obviously, these aquatic insect species possess bioenergetic, developmental, and/or behavioral mechanisms that enable conspecific populations to survive and reproduce in very different environmental conditions.

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Authors
  1. Bernard W. Sweeney
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  2. John K. Jackson
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  3. J. Denis Newbold
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  4. David H. Funk
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Biotic Systems and Resources Division, National Science Foundation, Washington, DC, 20550, USA

    Penelope Firth

  2. Department of Zoology, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, 85287, USA

    Stuart G. Fisher

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© 1992 Springer-Verlag New York Inc.

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Sweeney, B.W., Jackson, J.K., Newbold, J.D., Funk, D.H. (1992). Climate Change and the Life Histories and Biogeography of Aquatic Insects in Eastern North America. In: Firth, P., Fisher, S.G. (eds) Global Climate Change and Freshwater Ecosystems. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-2814-1_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-2814-1_7

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-7681-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4612-2814-1

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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