The systematics and conservation of stoneflies (Insecta: Plecoptera)

Stoneflies (Insecta: Plecoptera) provide pivotal ecosystem services in both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems: they are food sources for predators, indicators of water quality, and mediate nutrient cycling and energy flow. As biomonitors, stoneflies are ideal indicators of water quality – many species are unable to survive in polluted or degraded streams. Like many insects, stonefly populations have experienced a significant loss of biodiversity. Before predictions about global biogeographical stonefly response to altered climate regimes can be effective, we need to quantify existing diversity, their distributions, and what their evolutionary relationships can tell us. Preliminary results from integrating genetic, morphological, and ecological data to create the first complete evolutionary history for Plecoptera are included here. Developing the first anchored hybrid enrichment (AHE) probe set for stoneflies will rapidly expand the use of museum specimens and increase the accessibility of phylogenetic studies of stoneflies to other researchers. AHE allows an acceleration of the resolution of deep-scale portions within the evolutionary tree and advance the resolution of recent divergences or unresolved groups. It is a cost-efficient method for capturing genes in older or degraded museum specimens: high-throughput sequencing methodologies are more effective at sequencing damaged or fragmented DNA sequences. AHE, combined with historical DNA protocols, will broaden the utilization of natural history collections worldwide. This information will reveal cryptic species that may broaden our understanding of stoneflies that require conservation concern, thus inferring proper management strategies to maintain specialized freshwater habitat to preserve aquatic macroinvertebrate biodiversity around the world.