PRESENCE OF TERESSTIAL INSECTS IN AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS

The study of population dynamics is pivotal to much ecological research. According to

previous years, the study of insect populations has been focused on terrestrial insects. It seems

that aquatic insect populations have begun to be investigated in later research. Different plant

populations affect both terrestrial and aquatic insects. It is known that while there are

quantitative inhibitions by the predator in terrestrial insects, food sources mostly restrict to

aquatic insects. Besides, whether the pathogenic outbreaks on insects are caused by aquatic

insects; it has been a topic of curiosity that aquatic insects show a more steady selection of

spawning places compared to terrestrial ones and that existence of their instincts depends on

the flow direction of the rivers.

In this study, which was carried out on terrestrial insects that have established a temporary

habitat that is not random or semi-aquatic; on level numerical and distributional data, family

and genus of terrestrial insects have been caught in aquatic ecosystems (lakes, ponds, streams,

streams and temporary ponds) in the Northeastern Anatolian part of Turkey (Ardahan, Kars

and Iğdır provinces). Afterward, data were compared with ecological parameters.

2 male and 2 female individuals of Thanatophilus sinuatus of Silphidae family on Coleoptera

order in Ardahan province have been firstly collected. Entiminae subfamily individuals

belonging to the Curculionidae family 2 individuals (Ardahan, Turkey); 1 individual from the

Rhyssemus sp. of the Scarabaeidae family (Iğdır, Turkey), two individuals from the Tachyura

sp. genus of the Carabidae family (Ardahan, Turkey); 1 individual (Ardahan, Turkey)

belonging to Coccinella 7-punctata species belonging to Coccinellidae family has been

caught. Because Thanatophilus sinuatus is known to feed on carrion, it is thought that

terrestrial insects are found in aquatic areas for feeding, sheltering and protection aims. When

heavy metal contents of aqua in which each terrestrial individual is found are examined,

compared to the numerical distribution of aquatic insects at other stations, it is found in

aquatic areas with much lower Cadmium (Cd) and higher Iron (Fe) ions and with an average

pH level of 7.22. To be caught by Rhyssemus sp. individual was noteworthy in the province

of Iğdır at low altitude.

Currently, these research results on the dynamics of aquatic and terrestrial insect populations

are potentially illuminating for research on other population dynamics.