VTechWorks staff will be away for the winter holidays starting Tuesday, December 24, 2024, through Wednesday, January 1, 2025, and will not be replying to requests during this time. Thank you for your patience, and happy holidays!
 

Short-term effects of defoliation by gypsy moth larvae on Appalachian headwater streams in Virginia

Simple item page
dc.contributor.authorMarshall, Brett Douglasen
dc.contributor.departmentEntomologyen
dc.date.accessioned2014-03-14T21:35:23Zen
dc.date.adate2009-05-02en
dc.date.available2014-03-14T21:35:23Zen
dc.date.issued1994en
dc.date.rdate2009-05-02en
dc.date.sdate2009-05-02en
dc.description.abstractThis field study investigated the short-term effects of riparian defoliation by gypsy moth larvae on three aspects of headwater stream ecology, water quality, benthic macroinvertebrate community structure, and benthic macroinvertebrate function (expressed as secondary production). The experimental design was to compare measurements in three streams that were extensively defoliated by gypsy moth larvae (defoliated treatment), with three streams that were not affected by gypsy moth larvae (reference treatment). Although the riparian canopy became much more open after defoliation, I observed no significant differences in any water quality parameters except temperature, which was slightly elevated for a brief period after defoliation. There was a significant increase in the amount of detritus (frass and orts) falling into defoliated streams in the spring, which was followed by a significant decrease in the of amount detritus falling into defoliated streams in autumn. Many measures of community structure were analyzed, but only the Index of Biotic Similarity demonstrated a significant difference, indicating that, at most, only slight changes in community structure occurred. Secondary production of two representative aquatic insects, Peltoperlidae (shredder) and Diplectrona modesta (collectorfilterer), was not affected by defoliation. Glossosoma nigrior (scraper) achieved higher production because of a second-generation being induced by elevated temperature. I conclude that the short-term effects of riparian defoliation by gypsy moth larvae were minor.en
dc.description.degreeMaster of Scienceen
dc.format.extentviii, 103 leavesen
dc.format.mediumBTDen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.otheretd-05022009-040749en
dc.identifier.sourceurlhttp://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-05022009-040749/en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/42426en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherVirginia Techen
dc.relation.haspartLD5655.V855_1994.M3448.pdfen
dc.relation.isformatofOCLC# 32191182en
dc.rightsIn Copyrighten
dc.rights.urihttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/en
dc.subject.lccLD5655.V855 1994.M3448en
dc.subject.lcshDefoliationen
dc.subject.lcshGypsy moth -- Larvaeen
dc.subject.lcshStream ecologyen
dc.titleShort-term effects of defoliation by gypsy moth larvae on Appalachian headwater streams in Virginiaen
dc.typeThesisen
dc.type.dcmitypeTexten
thesis.degree.disciplineEntomologyen
thesis.degree.grantorVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State Universityen
thesis.degree.levelmastersen
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Scienceen

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
LD5655.V855_1994.M3448.pdf
Size:
5.78 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Download

Collections

Masters Theses