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Habitat selection by chironomid larvae: fast growth requires fast food

  1. ELSKE M. DE HAAS1,
  2. COEN WAGNER1,
  3. ALBERT A. KOELMANS2,
  4. MICHIEL H. S. KRAAK1,*,
  5. WIM ADMIRAAL1

Article first published online: 22 DEC 2005

DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2656.2005.01030.x

Issue

Journal of Animal Ecology

Journal of Animal Ecology

Volume 75, Issue 1, pages 148–155, January 2006

Additional Information

How to Cite

DE HAAS, E. M., WAGNER, C., KOELMANS, A. A., KRAAK, M. H. S. and ADMIRAAL, W. (2006), Habitat selection by chironomid larvae: fast growth requires fast food. Journal of Animal Ecology, 75: 148–155. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2656.2005.01030.x

Author Information

  1. 1

    Department of Aquatic Ecology and Ecotoxicology, Faculty of Science, University of Amsterdam, Kruislaan 320, 1098 SM, Amsterdam, the Netherlands

  2. 2

    Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management Group, Department of Environmental Sciences, Wageningen Agricultural University, PO Box 8080, 6700 DD, Wageningen, the Netherlands

* Michiel Kraak, Department of Aquatic Ecology and Ecotoxicology, Faculty of Science, University of Amsterdam, Kruislaan 320, 1098 SM, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Fax: + 31 20 5257716; E-mail: castella@science.uva.nl

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 22 DEC 2005
  2. Article first published online: 22 DEC 2005
  3. Received 23 February 2005; accepted 11 August 2005

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Keywords:

  • Chironomus riparius;
  • food quality;
  • preference;
  • sediment-bound toxicants

Summary

  • 1
    Sediments have been considered as a habitat, a cover from predators and a source of food, but also as a source of potential toxic compounds. Therefore, the choice of a suitable substrate is essential for the development of chironomids.
  • 2
    For the midge Chironomus riparius (Meigen 1804) the growth rate of larvae has often been related to the food quality in sediments rather than to the amount of toxicants in the sediment. Both food quality and sediment-bound toxicants have been reported to determine the field distribution of chironomid larvae.
  • 3
    We therefore studied the habitat selection by C. riparius larvae of floodplain lake sediments, differing in both food quality and concentrations of sediment-bound toxicants. We offered the different sediments pairwise to the chironomid larvae in a choice experiment and their settlement in the paired sediments was determined after 10 days.
  • 4
    It was observed that larvae showed a clear preference for sediments with higher food quality, which also provided better growth conditions, and that the food quality overruled avoidance of the sediments with higher toxicant concentrations.
  • 5
    Our observations correspond with the persistence of this fast growing opportunistic chironomid species in organically enriched aquatic ecosystems independent of the contamination level.
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