An Ecological Profile of Hydropsyche alternans (Trichoptera: Hydropsychidae) in Lake Superior, the Last Stronghold of a Once-Dominant Great Lakes Surf Zone Caddisfly

Abstract

We studied the life history, diet, and trophic ecology of Hydropsyche alternans in four rocky sites located along the south-central coast of Lake Superior. The H. alternans life history and broad trophic niche space were similar to those of its riverine relatives. Quantitative sampling over the course of one ice-free season revealed that most individuals lived univoltine life histories that featured early to mid-summer mating, and oviposition and rapid growth and development through summer into fall. Most individuals overwintered as ultimate or penultimate larval instars. Pupation followed ice-out in the spring. Gut content sampling and δ13C and δ15N stable isotope analyses indicated that the typical larval diet is a mix of benthic, pelagic, and terrestrial food resources, including diatoms, small arthropods, sloughed periphyton, and in one site, fugal hyphae apparently of foredune origin. As a suspension-feeding omnivore that relies on waves and currents to deliver food to its nets, H. alternans larvae form energetic links between coastal, nearshore, and offshore food webs. These connections have been lost throughout the lower Laurentian Great Lakes as a consequence of the invasion and spread of Dreissena mussels.