Seasonal dynamics and life cycle of Heterotrissocladius marcidus (Diptera: Chironomidae) in high altitude lakes (High Tatra Mts, Slovakia)

• Published in: Biológia Vol. 70; no. 7; pp. 943 - 947
• Main Authors: Goffová, Katarína, Peter Bitušík, Zuzana Čiamporová-ZatóvičovÃ, Dana BukvovÃ, Ladislav Hamerlík
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham De Gruyter Open 01-07-2015; Springer International Publishing; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: altitude; aquatic insects; autumn; bionomy; Cell Biology; Central Europe; Chironomidae; chironomids; high mountain lakes; lakes; larvae; Life cycles; Life history; Life Sciences; Microbiology; Mountain lakes; Mountains; phenology; Plant Sciences; seasonal variation; Summer; univoltine habit; Water temperature; Zoology; Central European region; Slovakia; aquatic insects; bionomy; chironomids; high mountain lakes; Central Europe; life history
• ISSN: 1336-9563; 0006-3088; 1336-9563
• DOI: 10.1515/biolog-2015-0103

We estimated the seasonal dynamics and life cycle of the chironomid Heterotrissocladius marcidus (Walker, 1856) in three alpine lakes in the High Tatra Mountains (Central Europe). H. marcidus had univoltine cycle in all lakes surveyed and seasonal changes of density showed an early summer and an autumn peak interrupted by a mid-summer decline of larval abundance. Our results indicate that phenology of H. marcidus is sensitive to thermal regime and local differences in lake water temperature can lead to differences of the life history within the same population