Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières
M.Sc. candidate
Supervisor: Eric Harvey
Katrine Turgeon
Start: 2023-01-06
End: 2025-05-15

Project

Impact of culvert degradation on emergent aquatic insects as a subsidy in low-order forested streams
Headwater streams are an integrated part of forest ecosystems, making an important contribution to maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem functions in these landscapes. Thanks to aquatic subsidies in the form of emergent insects, these streams bring essential nutrients that are rarely produced in terrestrial environments into the terrestrial food web. However, anthropogenic land use is strongly modifying these streams, notably by disrupting the connectivity of the dendritic network through the installation of culverts and forest roads. The impacts of this connectivity loss are increasingly documented for aquatic communities, but few assessments have been made of the terrestrial repercussions of these modifications. By analyzing various quantity and quality parameters of emergent insects from sites selected according to a gradient of culvert condition, we seek to clarify the trans-ecosystem effects of loss of aquatic connectivity in forest environments.

Keywords

Connectivité aquatique, Meta-écologie, Insectes aquatiques émergents