Abstract Details
5/20/2019 |
09:30 - 09:45
| 251 AB
A FRESHWATER INSECT OCCURRENCE AND TRAIT DATASET FOR THE CONTINENTAL UNITED STATES
Freshwater insects comprise 60% of the diversity of freshwater animals and are essential indicators of ecosystem health, yet our knowledge of the distribution of freshwater insect diversity in the US is incomplete. Scientists rely on geospatial data to assess biodiversity at large spatial extents, but a comprehensive dataset in the US linking freshwater insect occurrences and traits does not exist. We’re filling this knowledge gap by presenting the first dataset of occurrence records and functional traits for freshwater insects in the continental US. We compiled 1.2 million occurrence records from 36,000 stream locations sampled between 2001 and 2018 by federal and state biological monitoring programs. We compiled traits for insects in our occurrence data by expanding the USEPA Biological Traits Database. We added 111 insect genera and doubled the number of genera with a trait assignment for most trait categories. We present binary trait assignments and affinity scores (fuzzy-coded traits) for insect genera. We used our data to map the distribution of trait syndromes for freshwater insects in the US. Our dataset will be published as an open-access data paper accompanied by R code to plot and explore the data.
Laura Twardochleb (Primary Presenter/Author), Michigan State University, twardoch@msu.edu;
Ethan Hiltner (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Michigan State University, hiltnere@msu.edu;
Matthew Pyne (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Lamar University, mattpyne@hotmail.com;
Phoebe Zarnetske (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Michigan State University, plz@anr.msu.edu;