The Tapee River is one of the most important rivers in southern Thailand. The river crisscrosses from Khao Luang National Park, Nakhon Si Thammarat province to Surat Thani province and flows to the Thai Gulf. To study the biodiversity and distribution of Trichoptera species along the Tapee River, insects were collected by light trapping every 3 months from April 2004−February 2005. The results ...

We report behavioral regulation of body water content in caddisfly larvae, Hydropsyche morosa and Cheumatopsyche pettiti, by selecting microhabitats with different water flow rates. The purpose of our study was to examine features necessary for survival in the same apparent habitat, because the two species co-exist in riffle areas of freshwater streams. Both species are highly sensitive to wate...

1. Organisms that physically modify or create habitat ( ecosystem engineers ) can have a profound influence on community and ecosystem dynamics. 2. Here evidence is presented that one of the most abundant and widely distributed lotic insects could act as an ecosystem engineer in streams by increasing the stability of benthic substrates during flooding. 3. Natural densities of larval net spinnin...

Anal papillae of caddisflies are peripheral organs responsible for osmoregulation and detoxification. Investigation morphological abnormalities in the anal Hydropsyche angustipennis enriched with using SEM-EDX analysis (scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive X-ray analysis), was used to assess heavy metal pollution levels urban streams receiving surface runoff. Heavy ions not previously...

SEVERAL centuries before Pasteur's epoch-making discoveries, physicians and naturalists had suspected that certain contagious diseases in man and in domestic animals were caused by parasites invisible to the naked eye (this was named the 'contagium vivum' theory).' Those views, at first purely theoretical, were confirmed in 1687 when two pupils of Francesco Redi: Bonomo and Cestoni proved that ...

This study examined the extent to which dissolved Cd and Zn uptake rates vary in several aquatic insect taxa commonly used as indicators of ecological health. We further attempted to explain the mechanisms underlying observed differences. By comparing dissolved Cd and Zn uptake rates in several aquatic insect species, we demonstrated that species vary widely in these processes. Dissolved uptake...

The influence of metal exposure history on rates of aqueous Cd accumulation, elimination, and subcellular distribution was examined in the aquatic insect Hydropsyche californica. Specimens were obtained from a reference site and a metal-contaminated site and returned to the laboratory where they were continuously exposed to aqueous Cd (518 ng/L, nominal) for 6 d, followed by 9 d of depuration. ...

Insects with over 30,000 aquatic species are known as very successful arthropods in freshwater habitats. Some of them are applied as biological indicators for water quality control, as well as the main food supply for fishes and amphibians. The faunistic studies are the basic step in entomological researches; the current study was carried out emphasizing on the fauna of aquatic insects in Karaj...