Animal Populations in Fishpond Littorals

Abstract

The grazing-predatory food chain in fishpond littorals depends, abo ve all, on the primary production in the littoral plant communities. The participation of herbivores in the further fate of organic matter produced by the plants cannot be ignored. They may destroy (but not consume!) up to one fifth of the primary production (for a detailed evaluation see Sect. 3.1.7). Herbivorous macrofauna is represented by molluscs (Sect. 6.5), by a great number of insect species such as flies of the genus Lipara on reed, mining dipterous larvae (Sect. 6.4), noctuid larvae of Archanaria (Nonagria), Leucania, and Tapinostola, larvae of Tineidae, Pyralidae, and Tortricidae in Typha flowers; by aphids (mostly Hyalopterus pruni sucking on reed leaves (Sect. 6.4), by thrips (Chirothrips, Haplothrips, Iridothrips) and by phytophagous Coleoptera (mostly Chrysomelidae, Curculionidae, see Sect. 6.3).