Effect of water removal on introduced caddisflies from a tropical mountain stream

Abstract

Tropical island streams worldwide are being threatened by existing or proposed dams and diversions. Numerous streams of the Hawaiian Islands have diversions that remove freshwater for human use; however, little research has addressed diversion effects on aquatic insect communities in tropical streams. We studied the effect of water removal by a stream diversion on density and biomass of two introduced Trichoptera, Cheumatopsyche analis (Banks) (Hydropsychidae) and Hydroptila potosina (Buenoa-Soria) (Hydroptilidae), in Iao Stream, Maui, Hawaii, from April-August 2000. Both species seem to have multivoltine life cycles. Pooled Trichoptera (both species) biomass was significantly greater above the diversion (178.3 mg.m^-2 and 112.9 mg.m^-2 for upstream and downstream, respectively). For each individual species the mean total instar biomass was significantly reduced below the diversion (38 % and 54 % reduction for C. analis and H. potosina, respectively). Both species had greater densities above the diversion; however, individual larval mass of H. potosina instars, but not C. analis instars, was significantly lower below the diversion. Our results suggest that reduced habitat quality, due to lowered stream flow, limits density of both species below the diversion, whereas lowered food quantity and quality may differentially affect H. potosina biomass through reduced body sizes. These data suggest that water removal not only reduces habitat quality, but significantly lowers the community biomass of these introduced Trichoptera species, affecting the trophic energetics of stream reaches downstream of a diversion in Hawaii. Similar changes to macroinvertebrate communities would be expected below dams and diversions of streams in other tropical regions.