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Presented at the NABS Annual meeting, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 2002
in Wetlands I
EMERGING INSECTS FROM A SALT MARSH SYSTEM IN SOUTHERN MAINE.
R.A. MacKenzie. Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve, Wells, ME 04090
Insects emerging from salt marsh habitat were quantitatively sampled during the summer of 2001 to document: 1) community structure, 2) the spatial and temporal distribution of these insects, and 3) how various human activities might influence these patterns (i.e., development, marsh management techniques). Samples were collected from the vegetated marsh surface and from standing pools of salt and brackish water on the marsh surface known as marsh pannes. Preliminary results revealed that more insects emerged from the vegetated surface (868 ± 148 no m-2) than from brackish water pannes (635 ± 42 no m-2) or salt marsh pannes (57 ± 23 no m-2) during the sampling time period (end of May through end of August). Chironomids were the most abundant insect emerging from the vegetated marsh and brackish water pannes and were largely represented by Chironomus sp., Tanytarsus lugens group, T. verralli group, and T. recurvatus group. The tipulid, Liogma nodicornis was the most abundant emerging insect from the salt marsh pannes. The vegetated marsh appeared to support the highest number of insect species compared to the brackish and salt water pannes, including the seaside dragonlet, Erthyrodiplax berenice, the salt marsh caddisfly, Limnephilus ademus, and an unidentified coenagrionid damselfly.
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