Skip to main content
Log in

Environmental constraints on oviposition limit egg supply of a stream insect at multiple scales

  • Population ecology - Original Paper
  • Published:
Oecologia Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Species with complex life cycles pose challenges for understanding what processes regulate population densities, especially if some life stages disperse. Most studies of such animals that are thought to be recruitment limited focus on the idea that juvenile mortality limits the density of recruits (and hence population density), fewer consider the possibility that egg supply may be important. For species that oviposit on specific substrata, environmental constraints on oviposition sites may limit egg supply. Female mayflies in the genus Baetis lay egg masses on the underside of stream rocks that emerge above the water’s surface. We tested the hypothesis that egg mass densities are constrained by emergent rock densities within and between streams, by counting egg masses on emergent rocks. All emergent rocks were counted along 1-km lengths of four streams, revealing significant variation in emergent rock density within streams and a more than three-fold difference between streams. In each stream, egg mass density increased with the density of emergent rocks in 30-m stretches. We used regression equations describing these small-scale relationships, coupled with the large-scale spatial variation of emergent rocks, to estimate egg mass densities for each 1-km stream length, a scale relevant to population processes. Scaled estimates were positively associated with emergent rock density and provided better estimates than methods that ignored environmental variation. Egg mass crowding was inversely related to emergent rock density at the stream scale, a pattern consistent with the idea that oviposition substrata were in short supply in streams with few emergent rocks, but crowding did not compensate entirely for differences in emergent rock densities. The notion that egg supply, not larval mortality, may limit population density is an unusual perspective for stream insects. Environmental constraints on egg supply may be widespread among other species with specialised oviposition behaviours.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Anderson KE, Nisbet RM, Diehl S, Cooper SD (2005) Spatial scaling of population responses to environmental variability in advection dominated systems. Ecol Lett 8:933–943

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Benech V (1972a) Etude expérimentale de l’incubation des oeufs de Baetis rhodani Pictet. Freshw Biol 2:243–252

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Benech V (1972b) La fecondité de Baetis rhodani Pictet. Freshw Biol 2:337–354

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Briers RA, Gee JHR, Cariss H, Geoghegan R (2004) Inter-population dispersal by adult stoneflies detected by stable isotope enrichment. Freshw Biol 49:425–431

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Caley MJ, Carr MH, Hixon MA, Hughes TP, Jones GP, Menge BA (1996) Recruitment and local dynamics of open marine systems. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 27:477–500

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chesson P (1996) Matters of scale in the dynamics of populations and communities. In: Floyd RB, Sheppard AW (eds) Frontiers of population ecology. CSIRO Press, Melbourne, pp 353–368

    Google Scholar 

  • Chesson P (1998a) Recruitment limitation: a theoretical perspective. Austr J Ecol 23:234–240

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chesson P (1998b) Spatial scales in the study of reef fishes: a theoretical perspective. Austr J Ecol 23:209–215

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Connell JH (1985) The consequences of variation in initial settlement versus post-settlement mortality in rocky intertidal communities. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 93:11–46

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Craig DA (1990) Behavioural dynamics of Cloeon dipterum larvae (Ephemeroptera: Baetidae). J North Am Benthol Soc 9:346–357

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davies A, MacAdam AD, Cameron IB (1986) Geology of the Dunbar district. Sheet 33E and part of Sheet 41 (Scotland). Memoir of the British Geological Survey

  • Doak P, Kareiva P, Kingsolver J (2006) Fitness consequences of choosy oviposition for a time-limited butterfly. Ecology 87:395–408

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Downes BJ, Reich P (2008) What is the spatial structure of stream insect populations? Dispersal behaviour of different life-history stages. In: Lancaster J, Briers RA (eds) Aquatic insects: challenges to populations. CAB International, Wallingford, pp 184–203

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Eaton AE (1888) A revisional monograph of the recent Ephemeridae or mayflies. Trans Linn Soc Lond. Ser 2, Zool 3:1–352

    Google Scholar 

  • Elliott JM (1972) Effect of temperature on the time of hatching in Baetis rhodani (Ephemeroptera: Baetidae). Oecologia 9:47–51

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Encalada AC, Peckarsky BL (2006) Selective oviposition of the mayfly Baetis bicaudatus. Oecologia 148:526–537

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Englund G, Leonardsson K (2008) Scaling up the functional response for spatially heterogeneous systems. Ecol Lett 11:440–449

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fowler NL, Overath RD, Pease CM (2006) Detection of density dependence requires density manipulations and calculation of λ. Ecology 87:655–664

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gordon ND, McMahon TA, Finlayson BL, Gippel CJ, Nathan RJ (2004) Stream hydrology: an introduction for ecologists, 2nd edn. Wiley, Chichester

    Google Scholar 

  • Halpern BS, Gaines SD, Warner RR (2005) Habitat size, recruitment, and longevity as factors limiting population size in stage-structured species. Am Nat 165:82–94

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hershey AE, Pastor J, Peterson BJ, Kling GW (1993) Stable isotopes resolve the drift paradox for Baetis mayflies in an arctic river. Ecology 74:2315–2325

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hildrew AG, Woodward G, Winterbottom JH, Orton S (2004) Strong density dependence in a predatory insect: large-scale experiments in a stream. J Anim Ecol 73:448–458

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hinton HE (1981) Biology of insect eggs, vols 1–3. Pergamon, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Hixon MA, Pacala SW, Sandin SA (2002) Population regulation: Historical context and contemporary challenges of open vs. closed systems. Ecology 83:1490–1508

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hoffmann A, Resh VH (2003) Oviposition in three species of limnephilid caddisflies (Trichoptera): hierarchical influences in site selection. Freshw Biol 48:1064–1077

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hughes JM, Mather PB, Hillyer MJ, Cleary C, Peckarsky B (2003) Genetic structure in a montane mayfly Baetis bicaudatus (Ephemeroptera: Baetidae), from the Rocky Mountains, Colorado. Freshw Biol 48:2149–2162

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Humpesch UH (1979) Life cycles and growth rates of Baetis spp. (Ephemeroptera: Baetidae) in the laboratory and in two stony streams in Austria. Freshw Biol 9:467–479

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kingsolver JG (1983) Ecological significance of flight activity in Colias butterflies: implications for reproductive strategy. Ecology 64:546–551

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Knispel S, Sartori M, Brittain JE (2006) Egg development in the mayflies of a Swiss glacial floodplain. J North Am Benthol Soc 25:430–443

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lancaster J (2000) Geometric scaling of microhabitat patches and their efficacy as refugia during disturbance. J Anim Ecol 69:442–457

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lancaster J, Downes BJ (2009) Linking the hydraulic world of individual organisms to ecological processes: putting ecology into ecohydraulics. River Res Appl (in press). doi:10.1002/rra.1274

  • Lancaster J, Downes BJ, Reich P (2003) Linking landscape patterns of resource distribution with models of aggregation in ovipositing stream insects. J Anim Ecol 72:969–978

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lancaster J, Bradley D, Hogan A, Waldron S (2005) True omnivory in predatory stream insects. J Anim Ecol 74:619–629

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Levine JM, Murrell DJ (2003) The community-level consequences of seed dispersal patterns. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 34:549–574

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Macneale KH, Peckarsky BL, Likens GE (2005) Stable isotopes identify dispersal patterns of stonefly populations living along stream corridors. Freshw Biol 50:1117–1130

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marchant R, Hehir G (1999) Growth, production and mortality of two species of Agapetus (Trichoptera: Glossosomatidae) in the Acheron River, south-east Australia. Freshw Biol 42:655–671

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Masters Z, Peteresen I, Hildrew AG, Ormerod SJ (2007) Insect dispersal does not limit the biological recovery of streams from acidification. Aquat Conserv Mar Freshw Ecosyst 17:375–383

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meekan MG, Milicich MJ, Doherty PJ (1993) Larval production drives temporal patterns of larval supply and recruitment of a coral-reef damselfish. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 93:217–225

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Melbourne BA, Chesson P (2005) Scaling up population dynamics: integrating theory and data. Oecologia 145:178–186

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Melbourne BA, Chesson P (2006) The scale transition: scaling up population dynamics with field data. Ecology 87:1478–1488

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Newton I (1994) The role of nest-sites in limiting the numbers of hole-nesting birds: a review. Biol Conserv 70:265–276

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Newton I (2004) Population limitation in migrants. Ibis 146:197–226

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Otto C, Svensson B (1976) Consequences of the removal of pupae for a population of Potamophylax congulatus (Trichoptera) in a south Swedish stream. Oikos 27:40–43

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peckarsky BL, Taylor BW, Caudill CC (2000) Hydrologic and behavioral constraints on oviposition of stream insects: implications for adult dispersal. Oecologia 125:186–200

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peckarsky BL, McIntosh AR, Taylor BW, Dahl J (2002) Predator chemicals induce changes in mayfly life history traits: a whole stream manipulation. Ecology 83:612–618

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peckarsky BL, Kerans BL, Taylor BW, McIntosh AR (2008) Predator effects on prey population dynamics in open systems. Oecologia 156:431–440

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Poulsen JR, Osenberg CW, Clark CJ, Levey DJ, Bolker BM (2007) Plants as reef fish: fitting the functional form of seedline recruitment. Am Nat 170:167–183

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Quinn GP, Keough MJ (2002) Experimental design and data analysis for biologists. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Reich P, Downes BJ (2003a) Experimental evidence for physical cues involved in oviposition site selection of lotic hydrobiosid caddisflies. Oecologia 136:465–475

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Reich P, Downes BJ (2003b) The distribution of aquatic invertebrate egg masses in relation to physical characteristics of oviposition sites at two Victorian upland streams. Freshw Biol 48:1497–1513

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rice S, Church M (1996) Sampling of fluvial gravels: the precision of size distribution percentile estimates. J Sediment Res 66:654–665

    Google Scholar 

  • Rice SP, Greenwood MT, Joyce CB (2001) Tributaries, sediment sources, and the longitudinal organisation of macroinvertebrate fauna along river systems. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 58:824–840

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rice SP, Kiffney P, Greene CM, Pess GR (2008) The ecological importance of tributaries and confluences. In: Rice SP, Roy AG, Rhoads BL (eds) River confluences, tributaries and the fluvial network. Wiley, Chichester, pp 209–242

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt SK, Hughes JM, Bunn SE (1995) Gene flow among conspecific populations of Baetis sp. (Ephemeroptera): adult flight and larval drift. J North Am Benthol Soc 14:147–157

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schneider DC (1994) Quantitative ecology: spatial and temporal scaling. Academic, San Diego

    Google Scholar 

  • Shanks AL, Roegner GC (2007) Recruitment limitation in Dungeness crab populations is driven by variation in atmospheric forcing. Ecology 88:1726–1737

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sokal RR, Rohlf FJ (1981) Biometry, 2nd edn. Freeman, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Sweeney BW (1993) Effects of streamside vegetation on macroinvertebrate communities of White Clay Creek in Eastern North America. Proc Acad Natl Sci Philadelphia 144:291–340

    Google Scholar 

  • Tabachnick BG, Fidell LS (1996) Using multivariate statistics, 3rd edn. Harper Collins, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor JR (1997) An introduction to error analysis: the study of uncertainties in physical measurements. University Science Books, Sausalito

    Google Scholar 

  • Thorson G (1950) Reproductive and larval ecology of marine bottom invertebrates. Biol Rev 25:1–45

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ulfstrand S (1968) Life cycles of benthic insects in Lapland streams (Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, Trichoptera, Diptera, Simuliidae). Oikos 19:167–190

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Underwood AJ, Keough MJ (2001) Supply side ecology: the nature and consequences of variations in recruitment of intertidal organisms. In: Bertness M, Gaines SD, Hay ME (eds) Marine community ecology. Sinauer, Sunderland, pp 183–200

    Google Scholar 

  • Waters TF (1965) Interpretation of invertebrate drift in streams. Ecology 46:327–334

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Welton JS, Ladle M, Bass JAB (1982) Growth and production of five species of Ephemeroptera larvae from an experimental recirculating stream. Freshw Biol 12:103–122

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williams HC, Ormerod SJ, Bruford MW (2006) Molecular systematics and phylogeny of the cryptic species complex Baetis rhodani (Ephemeroptera, Baetidae). Mol Phylogenet Evol 40:370–382

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wise EJ (1980) Seasonal distribution and life histories of Ephemeroptera in a Northumbrian River. Freshw Biol 10:101–111

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wolman MG (1954) A method of sampling coarse bed material. Eos Trans Am Geophys Union 35:951–956

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This project was supported by a grant awarded to J.L. and B.J.D. by the Natural Environment Research Council, UK (NE/E004946/1). We are grateful to Beckie Langton, Lisa Belyea and Nigel Crook for their sterling assistance in the field. Thanks to Jim Sutherland and various landowners for site access. Thanks to Chandra Jayasuriya (University of Melbourne, Department of Resource Management and Geography) for producing ESM, Fig. S1. The research complied with current laws in the UK.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jill Lancaster.

Additional information

Communicated by Jeff Shima.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Electronic Supplementary Material (DOC 416 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Lancaster, J., Downes, B.J. & Arnold, A. Environmental constraints on oviposition limit egg supply of a stream insect at multiple scales. Oecologia 163, 373–384 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-010-1565-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-010-1565-9

Keywords

Navigation