Date of Defense
12-4-2025
Date of Graduation
12-2025
Department
Biological Sciences
First Advisor
Tiffany Schriever
Second Advisor
Sharon Gill
Abstract
Interdunal wetlands are understudied habitats due to their relatively limited global presence. Their ability to support local wildlife makes understanding their ecosystem dynamics central to the conservation of local biodiversity. Emergent insects are key members of the wetland food web due to their involvement in both aquatic and terrestrial environments and because they provide nutrients and energy to consumers at higher trophic levels. Knowledge of emergent insect emergence patterns and preferences within interdunal wetlands can improve local conservation efforts and resource management practices for the improvement or maintenance of interdunal wetland health. Michigan supports a large range of interdunal wetlands, particularly along Lake Michigan’s coastline, making it an ideal location to study emergent insects across a dune successional gradient. To compare emergent insect community composition between dune succession stages, emergent insects were collected at 12 wetland sites in Ludington State Park from May through July in 2024 and 2025. A total of 3,074 adult emergent insects were collected. The specimens were identified to family level and measured in millimeters. Insects were dried and weighed to quantify emergent insect secondary production. Emergent insect community composition at each wetland stage was analyzed based on family richness, abundance, biomass and length. I predicted that forest interdunal wetlands supported the greatest taxa richness and produced the largest quantity of emergent insect secondary production due to the stability increased canopy coverage offered to the forest dune habitat. Findings of increasing emergent insect family richness across the interdunal wetland successional stages supported the prediction. Intermediate wetlands contributed the most mass to total emergent insect secondary production, however, monthly emergent insect secondary production over the study’s two-year span did not differ between the successional stages. Results of the study highlighted the importance of interdunal wetlands at all dune stages, particularly forest wetlands for their potential to maintain emergent insect diversity and resulting insectivorous predator diversity and intermediate wetlands for their ability to produce the most emergent insect mass to support predators at a greater abundance. The study stressed the need for additional interdunal wetland research to allow for informed decision-making by land managers regarding wetland resources.
Recommended Citation
MacQueen, Erica, "Emergent Insect Family Richness and Biomass Across Ludington State Park's Interdunal Wetland Successional Stages" (2025). Honors Theses. 3991.
https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/honors_theses/3991
Access Setting
Honors Thesis-Restricted
Restricted to Campus until
8-12-2026