Effects of Stream Permanence on the Stoneflies (Plecoptera) of the Mammoth Cave Region
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Western Kentucky University TopSCHOLAR® Masters Theses & Specialist Projects Graduate School Spring 2020 Effects of Stream Permanence on the Stoneflies (Plecoptera) of the Mammoth Cave Region Taylor McRoberts Western Kentucky University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses Part of the Biodiversity Commons, and the Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology Commons Recommended Citation McRoberts, Taylor, "Effects of Stream Permanence on the Stoneflies (Plecoptera) of the Mammoth Cave Region" (2020). Masters Theses & Specialist Projects. Paper 3207. https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses/3207 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by TopSCHOLAR®. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses & Specialist Projects by an authorized administrator of TopSCHOLAR®. For more information, please contact [email protected]. EFFECTS OF STREAM PERMANENCE ON THE STONEFLIES (PLECOPTERA) OF THE MAMMOTH CAVE REGION A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of the Department of Biology Western Kentucky University Bowling Green, Kentucky In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Science By Taylor McRoberts May 2020 ())(&762)675($03(50$1(1&(217+(6721()/,(6 3/(&237(5$ 2)7+( 0$0027+&$9(5(*,21 'DWH5HFRPPHQGHGBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB $SULO 'LJLWDOO\VLJQHGE\6FRWW*UXEEV BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB6FRWW*UXEEV 'DWH 6FRWW*UXEEV'LUHFWRURI7KHVLV 'LJLWDOO\VLJQHGE\-RKQVRQ-DUUHWW BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB'DWH -DUUHWW-RKQVRQ 'LJLWDOO\VLJQHGE\$OEHUW-0HLHU $OEHUW-0HLHU 'DWH BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB $OEHUW0HLHU Digitally signed by Ranjit T. Ranjit T. Koodali Koodali BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBDate: 2020.07.06 13:56:15 -05'00'BBBBBBBB $VVRFLDWH3URYRVWIRU5HVHDUFKDQG*UDGXDWH(GXFDWLRQ I dedicate this thesis firstly to my father Chris McRoberts, who shared his love of water and the organisms living in them with me since I was a child. To my mother Sherri McRoberts, sister Madison McRoberts, and Haley Pileski who uprooted her life to come to Bowling Green and be with me while I collected insects. Thank you all for the unconditional love, support, and encouragement. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am especially grateful to Dr. Scott Grubbs for allowing me to work in such an enjoyable lab space, as well as field outings, trips to conference meetings, and the wealth of knowledge on aquatic systems you made readily available to me. Without his guidance this experience would have been much different, and I doubt I would have learned or enjoyed it as much. I would also like to thank my committee members Dr. Jarrett Johnson and Albert Meier. To Dr. Johnson, thank you for always being willing to answer any statistical and genetics questions I had, and opening his lab space to me. To Dr. Albert Meier, thank you for the intriguing conversations and the wealth of ecology knowledge he passed to me through class and other interactions. In addition, thank you for access to vehicles and the WKU Green River Preserve. I would also like to recognize Dr. Ouida, for important GIS information on for the WKU Green River Preserve I used in this project. A special thanks to my lab mates and others who assisted in my research and ultimately played a role in the success of this project: Madeline Metzger, who gave her time helping collect stoneflies and assist in DNA extractions, Phillip Hogan who helped with collections and any GIS problems I had, and Haley Pileski for accompanying me on more than a few field collection events. The other Biograds also played an important role to my experience in graduate school and I would like to thank them for all the fun memories I will not soon forget. This work would not have been possible without funding from the WKU Graduate School, and the nice people at Mammoth Cave National Park for allowing me iv to collect and traverse across the park: Rick Toomey for hastily responding to questions, and Lillian Scoggins for supplying me with the GIS information for Mammoth Cave National Park. Lastly, I would like to acknowledge my dog Tillie, for being a welcome face when I came home, and a partner who accompanied me on many collection trips. v CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: EFFECTS OF STREAM PERMANENCE ON THE STONEFLIES (PLECOPTERA) OF THE MAMMOTH CAVE REGION, KENTUCKY, USA Introduction………………………………………………………………………..1 Methods……………………………………………………………………………6 Results……………………………………………………………………………10 Discussion………………………………………………………………………..21 Tables…………………………………………………………………………….24 Figures……………………………………………………………………………32 CHAPTER 2: COMPARING GENE FLOW AND GENETIC STRUCTURE BETWEEN TWO RELATED SPECIES OF STONEFLIES (INSECTA, PLECOPTERA) WITH DIFFERING LIFE HISTORY STRATEGIES Introduction………………………………………………………………………73 Methods…………………………………………………………………………..78 Results……………………………………………………………………………82 Discussion………………………………………………………………………..83 Tables…………………………………………………………………………….89 Figures……………………………………………………………………………93 LITERATURE CITED………………………………………………………………....101 vi LIST OF CHAPTER 1 FIGURES Figure 1. Map of distinct Level III Ecoregions of Mammoth Cave National Park and the Green River Preserve………………………………………………………………………………….32 Figure 2. Site distribution map of the Mammoth Cave and the Western Kentucky Green River Preserve, illustrating waterways and hiking trails and site locations………………………………………………………………………………….33 Figure 3. Number of sites in each assigned stream category…………………………………………………………………………………..34 Figure 4. Number of species collected from eight different families………………………………………………………………………………..….34 Figure 5. Number of species collected per stream category………………………………………………………………………………......35 Figure 6. Adult presence graph of species collected. Dark black bars indicate positive collections of adults, while grey sections indicate when species are presumed to be present but were not collected………………………………………………………..………………………...36 Figure 7. Estimation of species richness…………………………………………………37 Figure 8. Estimation of species rarity with a singletons and doubletons……………...…37 Figure 9. UPGMA analysis showing species similarity between species found at each stream category…………………………………………………………………………………..38 Figure 10. Species distribution map of Allocapnia granulata in the Mammoth Cave region………………………………………………………………………………….....39 Figure 11. Species distribution map of Allocapnia mystica in the Mammoth Cave region………………………………………………………………………………….....40 Figure 12. Species distribution map of Allocapnia recta in the Mammoth Cave region…………………………………………………………………………………….41 vii Figure 13. Species distribution map of Allocapnia rickeri in the Mammoth Cave region…………………………………………………………………………………….42 Figure 14. Species distribution map of Leuctra alta in the Mammoth Cave region…………………………………………………………………………………….43 Figure 15. Species distribution map of Leuctra rickeri in the Mammoth Cave region…………………………………………………………………………………….44 Figure 16. Species distribution map of Leuctra schusteri in the Mammoth Cave region…………………………………………………………………………………….45 Figure 17. Species distribution map of Leuctra sibleyi in the Mammoth Cave region…………………………………………………………………………………….46 Figure 18. Species distribution map of Leuctra tenuis in the Mammoth Cave region…………………………………………………………………………………....47 Figure 19. Species distribution map of Paraleuctra sara in the Mammoth Cave region…………………………………………………………………………………….48 Figure 20. Species distribution map of Zealeuctra claasseni in the Mammoth Cave region…………………………………………………………………………………….49 Figure 21. Species distribution map of Zealeucta fraxina in the Mammoth Cave region…………………………………………………………………………………….50 Figure 22. Species distribution map of Amphinemura alabama in the Mammoth Cave region…………………………………………………………………………………….51 Figure 23. Species distribution map of Amphinemura nigritta in the Mammoth Cave region…………………………………………………………………………………….52 Figure 24. Species distribution map of Amphinemura varshava in the Mammoth Cave region.................................................................................................................................53 viii Figure 25. Species distribution map of Ostrocerca truncata in the Mammoth Cave region…………………………………………………………………………………….54 Figure 26. Species distribution map of Soyedina calcarea in the Mammoth Cave region………………………………………………………………………………….....55 Figure 27. Species distribution map of Strophopteryx fasciata in the Mammoth Cave region…………………………………………………………………………………….56 Figure 28. Species distribution map of Taeniopteryx burksi in the Mammoth Cave region…............................................................................................................................57 Figure 29. Species distribution map of Taeniopteryx lita in the Mammoth Cave region………………………………………………………………………………….....58 Figure 30. Species distribution map of Taeniopteryx maura in the Mammoth Cave region…………………………………………………………………………………….59 Figure 31. Species distribution map of Pteronarcys dorsata in the Mammoth Cave region….............................................................................................................................60 Figure 32. Species distribution map of Haploperla brevis in the Mammoth Cave region………………………………………………………………………………….…61 Figure 33. Species distribution map of Sweltsa hoffmani in the Mammoth Cave region…………………………………………………………………………………….62 Figure 34. Species distribution map of Acroneuria abnormis in the Mammoth Cave region………………………………………………………………………………….....63 Figure 35. Species distribution map of Acroneuria perplexa in the Mammoth Cave region………………………………………………………………………………….....65