Adult aquatic insect emergence, insect pesticide concentrations and water chemistry of wetlands in the Prairie Pothole Region, North Dakota, USA, 2015-16

Publication Date

2021-05-26

Start Date

2015-06-07

End Date

2016-09-28

Kraus, J.M., Dowdy, K., Hladik, M.L., Harrington, R., Pomeranz, J.P., Solensky, M.J., Finocchiaro, R., Shook, N., Mushet, D.M., and Kuivila, K. M., 2021, Adult aquatic insect emergence, insect pesticide concentrations and water chemistry of wetlands in the Prairie Pothole Region, North Dakota, USA, 2015-16: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P971S7IV.

Type: Related Primary Publication

Current-use pesticides can impact ecosystems by reducing the quantity and quality of non-target prey organisms available to aquatic and terrestrial consumers. Because freshwaters can act as receiving basins for contaminants and are well connected with the surrounding landscape through movements of predators, prey, energy and nutrients, they may be hotspots of non-target effects of pesticides on food webs. The Prairie Pothole Region of North America encompass a system of wetlands that are both crucial breeding and feeding grounds for migrating birds and are embedded in a landscape predominantly used for cropland agriculture. Adult aquatic insects emerging from these wetlands are important prey for ducklings, aerial insectivorous birds and aquatic predators such as fish, and can act as vectors of contaminant transfer to multiple food webs. The data were collected to test hypotheses about drivers of aquatic insect production and biologically-mediated pesticide flux from wadeable Prairie Pothole wetlands. Data may be used to answer these and related questions as well as understand the landscape patterns of aquatic insect production.

• Columbia Environmental Research Center (CERC)
• USGS Data Release Products