Sampling and analytical techniques to estimate abundance and productivity of stream invertebrates are examined for their precision and accuracy, and then utilized to develop empirical models of sampling variability, abundance, and growth rates of overwintering larvae of black flies (Diptera: Simuliidae). Sampling variability of density estimates of stream benthos increases with mean density, and decreases with sampler size. Artificial substrates do not consistently reduce sampling variability, and introduce variable bias in estimates of simuliid density. Growth rates of overwintering simuliids are mainly a function of their body size, but available data show that growth rates also increase with water temperature. Biomass of overwintering simuliids in lake outlets in Southern Quebec is positively related to chlorophyll concentration and current velocity, and negatively related to distance from the lake, water depth, and periphyton biomass. Computer simulations show that published methods fail to produce reliable confidence intervals for estimates of secondary production for highly aggregated populations, and a reliable method, based on the Bootstrap procedure and the Allen curve, is presented.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.75447 |
| Date | January 1987 |
| Creators | Morin, Antoine |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (Department of Biology.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 000550468, proquestno: AAINL44394, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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