D3216: Chironomidae diversity in fire managed wetlands of north central Florida

Prescribed fires are often used as a form of terrestrial ecosystem management, especially in the southeastern United States. Prescribed fires can affect adjacent water bodies, but these effects are not well studied. Aquatic insects are often impacted by changes in the terrestrial ecosystem, and an abundant family of insects in wetlands are the Chironomidae. These dipterans have an aquatic life stage which could be affected by prescribed fires. The purpose of this study was to image some of the diagnostic characteristics of chironomids from wetlands impacted by prescribed fire, and to determine if their diversity differed based on the frequency and time since last burn. Chironomids were collected from wetlands in Ordway Swisher Biological Station, FL, with varied burn treatments. The selected specimens were slide mounted, identified, and imaged. The specimens were chosen to represent diagnostic characters for genera found within the 3 subfamilies that were collected. Species richness and Simpson Diversity Index were calculated for each wetland and compared across burn treatments. No significant difference was found in the diversity across burn treatments, but some correlation was found between species richness and diversity. Further study could reveal patterns in diversity that were not apparent in this project.