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Presented at the NABS Annual meeting, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 2002
in Life Histories
USE OF MORPHOLOGICAL MEASUREMENTS TO PREDICT BIOMASS CHANGE IN A PELTOPERLID STONEFLY.
M.J. Frahm, W.O. Lamp, and L.C. Alexander. Department of Entomology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742
While estimating biomass of insects from total body length has been a common practice for many years, few methods have been explored that measure live specimens and leave them unharmed for later repeated-measures experiments. Also, few other morphological characteristics aside from total body length are commonly investigated as possible predictors of this relationship. We investigated the relationship between biomass and the predictive variables of length, interocular distance, and abdominal area in the stonefly species Tallaperla maria using a live capture and measure technique. The results illustrate the best predictive model for insect biomass considering the alternative measurement variables. Thus, in order to best estimate biomass for Tallaperla maria, one may wish to consider the impact of other morphological characteristics in addition to total insect length on a predictive model.
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