Aquatic Insects of the West River and Salt Marshes ... - Yale University

PUPEDIS 171did not concentrate on biting Diptera. Therefore, West River MemorialPark must be surveyed to determine specifically the residentspecies of culicids, tabanids, and ceratopogonids. Salt marsh restorationwill include Open Marsh Water Management (Daiber 1987) tocontrol mosquito populations. However, the effectiveness of thistype of management should be monitored; Open Marsh Water Managementdoes not address the control of tabanid or ceratopogonidpopulations. As the West River restoration evolves, regular surveysare recommended for monitoring changes of species compositionand densities of these pestiferous insect families.Finally, insect colonization of West River Memorial Park will befacilitated by the Spring Street Marsh. Though the scope of insectsampling at Spring Street was limited and does not allow for extensivecomparison with other salt marshes, the insect survey and thebotanical survey (Orson et al., pp. 136-150, this volume) appear toindicate that the marsh is a relatively healthy and typical salt marsh.Efforts must be undertaken to preserve this marsh and to preventany disturbances that degrade the salt marsh biota.ACKNOWLEDGMENTSThis project was partially funded by the Connecticut Departmentof Environmental Protection’s Long Island Sound LicensePlate Program. An enthusiastic volunteer cadre of Yale students,local entomologists, and Peabody staff were instrumental in assemblingthe collection from the four sites. I would especially like tothank Jen Beck, David Casagrande, Bret Elderd, Kate Lawder, M.Levin, Celia Lewis, Laura Nachiem, the Peabody Museum EntomologyLunch group, Candie Raposo, and Jean Tsau for all their help incollecting. The collected specimens were curated by the staff andvolunteers of the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, EntomologyDivision. Candie Raposo was especially helpful in the pinningand mounting of specimens. Special thanks are given to BurtGodwin, William Krinsky, Leonard Munstermann, Jane O’Donnell,and Michael Oliver for many of the identifications and their commentsand suggestions. Additional thanks to Carmela Cuomo andLeonard Munstermann for comments on the draft manuscript.YALE F&ES BULLETIN