TROPHIC RELATIONS OF AQUATIC INSECTS

TROPHIC RELATIONS OF AQUATIC INSECTS
KENNETH W. CUMMINS

INTRODUCTION
One of the most ubiquitous features of freshwater habitats is their present rate of change in response to man-engendered perturbations. Any rehabilitative or management strategy characterized by a high probability for success must rely on fundamental knowledge of the intricacies of freshwater ecosystem
structure and function. A basic facet of this structure and function is material cycling and energy flow. In turn, a significant portion of such cycling and flow involves the processing of various forms of organic matter by
freshwater invertebrate animals, especially insects. This constitutes a basis for interest in aquatic insect trophic relations-food intake, tissue assimilation, and waste release-with implications ranging from theoretical questions, such as the efficiency of energy transfer, to very specific practical problems: for example, population control of "pest" species represented either by the food or the feeder. As Bates (2) put it, trophic relationships constitute the "cement" holding biological communities together.

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