Download or read book Biological diversity of the Minnesota caddisflies (Insecta, Trichoptera) written by David C. Houghton and published by PenSoft Publishers LTD. This book was released on 2012-07-24 with total page 394 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contains illustrations, statewide abundances, distributions, adult flight periodicities, and habitat affinities for all of the 277 known Minnesota caddisfly species. Many species, especially within the long-lived shredder families Limnephilidae and Phryganeidae, have decreased in distribution and abundance during the past 75 years, particularly those once common within the Northwestern and Southern regions. Many species now appear regionally extirpated, and a few have disappeared from the entire state. This loss of species in the Northwestern and Southern regions, and probably elsewhere, is almost certainly relatd to the conversion of many habitats to large-scale agriculture during the mid-20th century. With baseline data now in place, any future changes to the Minnesota caddisfly fauna can be evaluated with much greater confidence and precision.