The Relation of Oxygen Consumption to Substrate Particle Size in Two Burrowing Mayflies
Open Access
- 1 September 1963
- journal article
- Published by The Company of Biologists in Journal of Experimental Biology
- Vol. 40 (3), 447-454
- https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.40.3.447
Abstract
1. This study is concerned with the relation of oxygen consumption to substrate particle size in the morphologically similar burrowing mafies Ephemera simulansand Hexagenia limbata. 2. Nymphs, 16-24 mm. in length, were placed at 13.0°C. for 24 hr. before experimentation. Oxygen consumption experiments employed the standard ‘oxygen consumed in a closed bottle ’ technique and a modification. The standard technique was referred to as the ‘blank-bottle’ method, while the modification was called the ‘substrate-bottle’ method (washed substrate fractions were placed in the bottle). 3. The relationship between substrate particle size and oxygen consumption was indicated by a bimodal curve. The oxygen consumption fell, rose and fell once more as the particle size decreased from χ - 4 to χ + 5. 4. Substrate selection experiments with E. simulans nymphs revealed an inverse relationship between selection for particle size and oxygen consumption. 5. The burrowing front legs of the nymphs seem to be modified for a given substrate (coarse for E. simulans; fine for H. limbata) and, the less favourable the substrate, the more work that must be done to gain admittance or to burrow further. The particle size in which the nymphs showed the least oxygen consumption was considered to be an ‘optimal substrate’(χ- 1 for E. simulans and probably silt for H. limbata).This publication has 3 references indexed in Scilit:
- Respiratory Regulation in Ephemera Simulans Walker and Hexagenia Limbata (Serville) (Ephemeroptera)Journal of Experimental Biology, 1963
- An Evaluation of Some Techniques for the Collection and Analysis of Benthic Samples with Special Emphasis on Lotic WatersThe American Midland Naturalist, 1962
- Swimming and Burrowing Activities of Mayfly Nymphs of the Genus Hexagenia1Annals of the Entomological Society of America, 1943