Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Albuquerque 2001

SS45 Temporary Aquatic Ecosystems: Here Today, Gone Tomorrow (Spatial and Temporal Connections)

Date: Wednesday, February 14, 2001, Time: 2:00:00 PM

Location: Cochiti/Taos

Bohonak, A, J, San Diego State University, San Diego, USA, bohonak@sciences.sdsu.edu

Smith, B, P, Ithaca College, Ithaca, USA, smithb@ithaca.edu

EVOLUTIONARY CONSEQUENCES OF DISPERSAL IN TEMPORARY POND WATER MITES (ACARI: ARRENURIDAE: ARRENURUS)

Freshwater organisms that inhabit temporary ponds must adapt to both seasonal and long-term habitat changes. For these species, dispersal has profound consequences for the persistence of populations and the evolution of species. In most water mites (Hydrachnida), active dispersal of adults is not as ecologically or evolutionarily significant compared to dispersal of mite larvae via freshwater insect adults. We ascertain the evolutionary consequences of larval dispersal by 1) documenting the loss of dispersal in some water mite species that undergo direct development (i.e., larval stages forego parasitic feeding and do not associate with hosts), 2) determining the evolutionary history of direct development in one genus (Arrenurus) using phylogenetic methods, and 3) performing independent contrasts on pairs of lineages which do and do not possess parasitism. The traits used for these contrasts include geographic distribution, species-level diversity, population genetic diversity and morphometric diversity.

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Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Albuquerque 2001

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