Ecology of Insect Communities in Nontidal Wetlands

Published research about wetland insects has proliferated, and a conceptualfoundation about how wetland insect populations and communities are regulatedis being built. Here we review and synthesize this new body of work. Our reviewbegins with a summary of insect communities found in diverse wetland types,including temporary pools, seasonally flooded marshes, perennially floodedmarshes, forested floodplains, and peatlands. Next, we critically discuss researchon the population and community ecology of wetland insects, including theimportance of colonization strategies and insect interactions with the physicalenvironment, plants, predators, and competitors. Results from many of the experimentalstudies that we review indicate that some commonly held beliefsabout wetland insect ecology require significant reevaluation. We then discussthe importance of wetland insect ecology for some applied concerns such asefforts to manage wetland insect resources as waterfowl food and developmentof ecologically sound strategies to control pest mosquitoes. We conclude with adiscussion of wetland conservation, emphasizing insect aspects.

Publisher - Annual Reviews

Subjects - Wetlands; Insects

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