The higher Diptera (Brachycera) fauna of sedge meadows (Cyperaceae, Carex) was studied at the Lac St. Francois National Wildlife Area in southern Quebec. Flies were collected weekly from May to October 1999 using sweeping and pan traps at three sampling sites representing two types of Carex habitat. Over 10,000 specimens, representing 34 families and more than 300 species, were collected. Dolichopodidae, Chloropidae, Sciomyzidae, Syrphidae and Sphaeroceridae were highest in species richness in all sites, and Ephydridae were very high in two of the sites. The above families, along with Phoridae, Chamaemyiidae and Muscidae, were also the most abundant. Overall species composition differed between sites and is apparently influenced by the type of vegetation and substrate. Correspondence analysis was used to investigate the habitat preferences of the 37 most abundant species. The feeding habits and host plants of many Diptera species were newly established by rearing adults from plants infested by larvae.

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The impact of peatland restoration on Diptera assemblages was studied across multiple organizational levels (taxon, size class, trophic group) among abandoned-mined, restored and natural sites of three bogs and the environmental variables affecting those assemblages were determined. More than 22,000 individuals representing 716 species were collected using pan traps, sweeping and Malaise traps. Restored and abandoned sites were similar to each other and both distinct from natural sites as shown by small-size class, acalyptrate and trophic assemblages. However, abandoned sites showed much lower evenness and generally supported lower species richness than restored and natural sites, due to the dominance of one or two saprophagous species. The coverage of bare peat, Sphagnum mosses and ericaceous shrubs explained most of the variance in species composition. Those results suggest that restoration enhanced the recovery of high species diversity, although more than seven years are needed to recover a complete trophic structure or to enable species with low dispersal ability to recolonize to pre-disturbance levels.

The diversity of Brachycera (Diptera) was studied in an old growth beech-sugar maple forest at Mont St. Hilaire, Quebec. Sampling was carried out weekly from early May to late September 2001 using a malaise trap, pan traps, a newly designed trunk trap and sweep netting. Almost 10,000 specimens from 45 families and over 334 species were collected. The most diverse families were Empididae (43 species), Tachinidae (39 species), Syrphidae (35 species) and Dolichopodidae (24 species). Collecting techniques were compared, with particular reference to the trunk trap designed for this study. NMDS ordination showed that a different Diptera assemblage was collected by each method. The greatest number of species was collected using the malaise trap; however, 21 species were collected only in trunk traps. Some of the most abundant species from trunk traps were collected rarely, or not at all, using other methods. These are species which are often considered rare in forests because they are infrequently collected using traditional techniques.

The diversity of saproxylic Cecidomyiidae (Diptera) associated with decaying logs was studied in an old-growth forest on Mont Saint-Hilaire, Quebec from June until September 2004. More than 24 000 specimens representing 323 species and morphospecies were collected in emergence traps set over American beech or sugar maple logs in two different stages of decay. The paedogenic species Miastor metraloas Meinert was by far the most numerous species with 17 002 individuals and was excluded from further analyses. Most of the remaining species were fungivores, detritivores or predators. Significantly more specimens were collected in logs in the more advanced decay stage, and indicator species analysis showed that the most abundant species were associated with this decay stage. Overall species richness was not significantly different between decay stages or tree species; however, non-metric multidimensional scaling indicated that the species assemblages associated with decay stage and tree species were significantly different despite the similar species richness.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.