Seasonal occurrence of black flies (Diptera: Simuliidae) in a desert stream receiving trout farm effluent.

The distribution and abundance of black flies (Diptera: Simuliidae) in a small desert stream were influenced by environmental changes caused by recharge of water supply storage basins and an aquaculture operation. Simulium virgatum was the most abundant benthic insect collected in Whitewater Canyon (Riverside County, CA) after April; however, it was never found in trout farm effluent where the ammonium-nitrogen concentration was > 0.25 mg/liter. S. virgatum densities downstream of the input of water from the Colorado River aqueduct were lower than at other sampling sites in the Whitewater River. Simulium tescorum, an especially anthropophilic black fly, was most abundant during February and March, was not collected from late spring through early autumn, and was found only in the highly enriched, less variable flow of trout farm effluent. The mean concentrations of ammonium nitrogen and nitrate nitrogen in the trout farm effluent nearly 1 km from the fish holding ponds were ten and two times, respectively, the ambient levels in the Whitewater River upstream of the effluent discharge point. A combination of factors probably contributed to the presence of S. tescorum in the trout farm effluent including homogenization of the flow regime, enrichment of larval resources, and the development of riparian vegetation that provided oviposition and attachment sites.