Adaptation of aquatic insects to the current flow in streams

Abstract

Abstract Water velocity is one of the most important abiotic factors influencing the survival of aquatic insects in rivers and streams. The unidirectional water flow shaping their habitat and characteristically dividing it into alternating zones of high and low water velocity (riffles and pools) also imposes on them the special necessity to adapt to continual downstream drift. Here, we analyze an individual-based eco-evolutionary model parameterized with field data, and show how species adapted to riffles and pools, respectively, emerge if three basic ...