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!
 

Life history, survival, growth, and production of hydropsyche slossonae in Mill Creek, Virginia

Simple item page
dc.contributor.authorWillis, Lawrence Doyleen
dc.contributor.committeechairHendricks, Albert C.en
dc.contributor.committeememberBenfield, Ernest F.en
dc.contributor.committeememberCranford, Jack A.en
dc.contributor.committeememberNeves, Richard J.en
dc.contributor.committeememberVoshell, Reeseen
dc.contributor.committeememberWebster, Jackson R.en
dc.contributor.committeememberCowles, Joe R.en
dc.contributor.departmentBiologyen
dc.date.accessioned2014-03-14T21:08:57Zen
dc.date.adate2006-02-01en
dc.date.available2014-03-14T21:08:57Zen
dc.date.issued1991en
dc.date.rdate2006-02-01en
dc.date.sdate2006-02-01en
dc.description.abstractLife history and annual production of Hydropsyche slossonae were determined in Mill Creek, Virginia, emphasizing aspects of its early life history. Mill Creek is a first—order stream in the Central Appalachian Ridges and Valleys ecoregion. Each adult female laid approximately 230 eggs in May and June which hatched in 13 days. Five larval instars were recorded with most individuals overwintering in III and IV instars. Pupation and emergence occurred primarily over a six week period in May and June. No mortality in the egg stage (0%) was detected, while high mortality in I instar (92.9%) was due in part to sibling cannibalism. Second through fifth instars showed constant, low mortality, with high mortality again in the pupal stage; an estimated 0.5% of the original eggs survived to adulthood. Growth analysis revealed two distinct growth phases; one from hatching through IV instar (0.008 mg/day) and a much faster growing V instar in May (0.085 mg/day). Annual production estimates ranged from 3 to 5 g/m² and were highly variable. It may be more precise to estimate production by predicting biomass from survivorship and growth functions than directly from sample data. On a per day basis, production was not constant but varied during the year. Yield per day peaked slightly later than peaks in production. High daily production occurred immediately after hatching due to growth of many small individuals. At the end of the generation, there was another period of high daily production due to fast growth by fewer larger individuals. Most production occurred from March through June. At other times, daily production was relatively low.en
dc.description.degreePh. D.en
dc.format.extentvi, 82 leavesen
dc.format.mediumBTDen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.otheretd-02012006-141714en
dc.identifier.sourceurlhttp://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-02012006-141714/en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/37232en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherVirginia Techen
dc.relation.haspartLD5655.V856_1991.W566.pdfen
dc.relation.isformatofOCLC# 24448190en
dc.rightsIn Copyrighten
dc.rights.urihttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/en
dc.subject.lccLD5655.V856 1991.W566en
dc.subject.lcshCaddisflies -- Virginia -- Mill Creeken
dc.subject.lcshHydropsychidae -- Researchen
dc.titleLife history, survival, growth, and production of hydropsyche slossonae in Mill Creek, Virginiaen
dc.typeDissertationen
dc.type.dcmitypeTexten
thesis.degree.disciplineBiologyen
thesis.degree.grantorVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State Universityen
thesis.degree.leveldoctoralen
thesis.degree.namePh. D.en

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
LD5655.V856_1991.W566.pdf
Size:
3.83 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Download

Collections

Doctoral Dissertations