Summary
Large populations of S. ornatum and S. equinum inhabit Ranunculus plants in the Bere Stream at Bere Heath. A weekly sampling programme obtained both larvae and pupae. The results of weekly sampling indicated four annual generations of S. ornatum and three of S. equinum. Quantitative samples of larvae, obtained at least three times in each generation gave estimates of production ranging from 0.26 g to 2.75 g dry weight m-2 per generation of larvae of S. equinum and 0.15 g to 1.19 g dry weight m-2 per generation of larvae of S. ornatum.
Retention times of food by larvae, under field conditions were in the order of twenty to thirty minutes. Following determination of the weight of the gut contents for each size class of larvae, the activity of feeding larvae was calculated to achieve complete theoretical clearance of suspended material in a distance of 0.6 km, at peak population densities in the summer months.
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Dept. of Applied Biology, Bath University of Technology
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Ladle, M., Bass, J.A.B. & Jenkins, W.R. Studies on production and food consumption by the larval simuliidae (Diptera) of a chalk stream. Hydrobiologia 39, 429–448 (1972). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00046654
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00046654