Aquatic insects represent approximately 10% of the known insect fauna and span every continent except Antarctica. These animals occupy primarily lentic and lotic surface freshwaters, as well as occasional marine and brackish coastal waters, cave systems, the hyporheic zone, and terra firma. Their ubiquity, diversity, and spectrum of responses to natural and anthropogenic differences between aquatic ecosystems render aquatic insects invaluable indicators of freshwater health. In addition, they are of great interest to ecologists, evolutionary biologists, naturalists, and the fly-fishing community. Several recent studies have suggested that the planet is experiencing a human mediated ‘insect apocalypse’, with aquatic insects appearing to be disproportionately affected both in terms of species extinctions and changes to their community structure. Simultaneously, ongoing human conflicts over water use continue to be a global problem. Long considered sentinels of water quality, aquatic insects rely on the 0.2% of Earth's surface that is liquid freshwater. Because of this dependent relationship, aquatic insects can provide critical information on how a changing world affects our freshwater resources.
The overarching goal of this Research Topic is to serve as an outlet for studies on changing freshwaters' impacts on aquatic insects. For example, how can aquatic insect ecological data answer questions about watershed health, biotic integrity, water withdrawals and pollution, thermal changes, and other aspects of freshwater ecosystems? Recent ‘omics’ advances including genomics, transcriptomics, and museomics, a wealth of publicly available genetic and occurrence data, centuries' worth of specimen material in natural history collections, and ecological modeling tools not historically available to researchers combine to make the present day an exciting time to study aquatic insects, and make such studies more tractable than ever. The ongoing ‘insect apocalypse’, which appears to disproportionately impact aquatic insects, makes the study of aquatic insect ecology particularly timely.
We encourage any submissions related to the use of ecological data in the context of natural or anthropogenic disturbances or changes. Other subjects such as insect physiology will be considered if they are framed in the context of freshwater ecology in a changing world. Submission topics can be ‘micro’ or ‘macro’ in scale, spanning molecules to ecosystems, and urban to natural settings. We hope for broad geographic coverage reflective of the diversity of the global aquatic insect fauna and the scientific community that studies these fascinating animals.
Aquatic insects represent approximately 10% of the known insect fauna and span every continent except Antarctica. These animals occupy primarily lentic and lotic surface freshwaters, as well as occasional marine and brackish coastal waters, cave systems, the hyporheic zone, and terra firma. Their ubiquity, diversity, and spectrum of responses to natural and anthropogenic differences between aquatic ecosystems render aquatic insects invaluable indicators of freshwater health. In addition, they are of great interest to ecologists, evolutionary biologists, naturalists, and the fly-fishing community. Several recent studies have suggested that the planet is experiencing a human mediated ‘insect apocalypse’, with aquatic insects appearing to be disproportionately affected both in terms of species extinctions and changes to their community structure. Simultaneously, ongoing human conflicts over water use continue to be a global problem. Long considered sentinels of water quality, aquatic insects rely on the 0.2% of Earth's surface that is liquid freshwater. Because of this dependent relationship, aquatic insects can provide critical information on how a changing world affects our freshwater resources.
The overarching goal of this Research Topic is to serve as an outlet for studies on changing freshwaters' impacts on aquatic insects. For example, how can aquatic insect ecological data answer questions about watershed health, biotic integrity, water withdrawals and pollution, thermal changes, and other aspects of freshwater ecosystems? Recent ‘omics’ advances including genomics, transcriptomics, and museomics, a wealth of publicly available genetic and occurrence data, centuries' worth of specimen material in natural history collections, and ecological modeling tools not historically available to researchers combine to make the present day an exciting time to study aquatic insects, and make such studies more tractable than ever. The ongoing ‘insect apocalypse’, which appears to disproportionately impact aquatic insects, makes the study of aquatic insect ecology particularly timely.
We encourage any submissions related to the use of ecological data in the context of natural or anthropogenic disturbances or changes. Other subjects such as insect physiology will be considered if they are framed in the context of freshwater ecology in a changing world. Submission topics can be ‘micro’ or ‘macro’ in scale, spanning molecules to ecosystems, and urban to natural settings. We hope for broad geographic coverage reflective of the diversity of the global aquatic insect fauna and the scientific community that studies these fascinating animals.