Chapter 1: General Introduction
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TABANIDAE AND CULICIDAE IN THE NORTHERN BOREAL REGION OF ONTARIO A Thesis Submitted to the Committee on Graduate Studies in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in the Faculty of Arts and Science TRENT UNIVERSITY Peterborough, Ontario, Canada © Copyright by John L. Ringrose 2014 Environmental and Life Sciences Graduate Program M.Sc January 2015 ABSTRACT I studied the abundance, distribution and diversity of horse fly and deer fly species (Diptera: Tabanidae) and mosquito species (Diptera: Culicidae) in the boreal forest region of northern Ontario in 2011 and 2012. I collected 19 mosquito species, including one species new for Ontario, Aedes pullatus (Coquillett). I documented 11 northern and one southern range extension. I also collected a total of 30 species of horse and deer flies, including one new species of horse fly for Ontario, Hybomitra osburni (Hine). Results were inconsistent with a hypothesis of colonization of dipteran species from west to east. I examined the trapping biases of Malaise and sweep sampling for horse and deer flies and found that Malaise traps collected fewer individuals than sweep netting (850 versus 1318) but more species (28 versus 22). Consequently, I determined that surveys of diversity benefit from the use of multiple trapping methods. I also examined how blood-feeding (anautogeny) requirements affect the distribution patterns of Tabanidae. Ultimately, there are likely multiple factors that affect the expression of anautogeny in Tabanidae. Keywords: Tabanidae, Culicidae, Northern Ontario, Hudson Bay Lowlands, Species distribution, Autogeny, Boreal Forest, Anautogeny II ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to thank the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources Northeast Science and Information Section and Wildlife Research & Development Section for coordinating my field work and allowing me to take part in the Far North Biodiversity Project. I would also like to thank the Far North Branch for providing funding. I wish to express my thanks to the Northern Scientific Training Program (NSTP) for providing me with travel support. I am incredibly grateful to the members of the Far North Biodiversity Project for helping me collect my samples: Dean Phoenix, Todd Copeland, Jane Devlin, Kevin Downing, Derek Goertz, Alex Howard, Ian Fife and Shannon Page. I am also grateful to the countless number of volunteers of the project that helped with sample collection. I want to thank my co-supervisors David Beresford and Ken Abraham for their constant support, guidance and encouragement. I would also like to thank my committee member, Erica Nol, for her feedback and guidance. I also want to thank my fellow lab mates, Donald Bourne, Sarah Langer, Scott Larkin and Marco Raponi for their unwavering support. I especially want to thank my parents and family for their constant support and encouragement. I owe the biggest thanks to Jen, who was my biggest supporter through it all. Last but not least, I sincerely thank the First Nations communities, Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug, Keewaywin, and Fort Albany for their hospitality. III TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................ II ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...............................................................................................III LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................... VI LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................... VII LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ......................................................................................... VIII CHAPTER 1: GENERAL INTRODUCTION ....................................................................1 CHAPTER 2: NEW RANGE RECORDS OF MOSQUITO SPECIES FROM NORTHERN ONTARIO .....................................................................................................5 ABSTRACT .........................................................................................................................5 INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................................5 MATERIALS AND METHODS .........................................................................................7 Analysis................................................................................................................................8 RESULTS ..........................................................................................................................10 New Ontario record............................................................................................................10 Northward range extensions ..............................................................................................11 Southward range extensions ..............................................................................................12 Range gap infills ................................................................................................................13 DISCUSSION ....................................................................................................................14 CHAPTER 3: NEW RANGE RECORDS, AND A COMPARISON OF SWEEP NETTING AND MALAISE TRAP CATCHES OF HORSE FLIES AND DEER FLIES (DIPTERA: TABANIDAE) IN NORTHERN ONTARIO................................................23 ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................................23 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................23 MATERIALS AND METHODS .......................................................................................25 Analysis..............................................................................................................................26 IV RESULTS ..........................................................................................................................27 New Ontario record............................................................................................................27 Range extensions ...............................................................................................................28 Gap infills...........................................................................................................................28 Trap comparison ................................................................................................................29 DISCUSSION ....................................................................................................................30 CHAPTER 4: ANAUTOGENY IN TABANIDAE ...........................................................38 ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................................38 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................38 Rationale for hypotheses ....................................................................................................41 Predictions..........................................................................................................................43 MATERIALS AND METHODS .......................................................................................45 Sampling ............................................................................................................................45 Species Classification ........................................................................................................45 Analysis..............................................................................................................................45 RESULTS ..........................................................................................................................46 DISCUSSION ....................................................................................................................47 CHAPTER 5: GENERAL DISCUSSION .........................................................................55 LITERATURE CITED ......................................................................................................60 APPENDICES ...................................................................................................................68 APPENDIX 1: SITE DESCRIPTIONS .............................................................................68 APPENDIX 2: SITE PICTURES ......................................................................................70 V LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 2.1. Rarefaction analysis of mosquito catches (means and SDs) within 150 km of Big Trout Lake and Sandy Lake in 2011 (closed circles) and within 150 km of Ft. Albany in 2012 (open circles). The inset map of Ontario shows the sampling locations in 2011 and 2012. ...................................................................................................................17 FIGURE 2.2. Fitted lognormal distributions of mosquito catches within 150 km of Big Trout Lake and Sandy Lake in 2011 and within 150 km of Ft. Albany in 2012. The area of the region left of the veil line represents species that were too rare to be sampled with our methodology. ...............................................................................................................18 FIGURE