Fluxes of Biomass and Essential Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids from Water to Land via Chironomid Emergence from a Mountain Lake

Abstract

The taxonomic composition, seasonal dynamics, and emergence intensity of chironomid adults (the Chironomidae family) merging from Oiskoe mountain oligotrophic lake (Western Sayan, Southern Siberia) have been established. The value of the annual emergence of chironomid adults averages 0.42 g wet weight m−2 in the lake area and approaches the value of potential emergence, which is calculated based on the estimate of zoobenthos secondary production. For the first time the fatty-acid composition and contents of essential omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) are compared between the larvae and adult stages of chironomids. The PUFA content per wet weight unit in adults is more than 7 times higher than that in larvae. The PUFA flux per lake area unit resulting from the chironomid emergence amounted to 1.752 mg m−2 y−1, which is over 10 times lower than the global estimate for the emergence of amphibiotic insects. Calculations show that the PUFA flux brought with the chironomid emergence per land unit of the studied mountain territory is very low when compared to that for other landscapes, with the exception of the shoreline part of the territory with a width of 15 m, in which the PUFA flux is comparable to that in productive landscapes.