Hydrobiologia 245: 21-40, 1992.

0 1992 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in Belgium. 27

Emergence of Chironomidae from the shallow eutrophic Lake

Kasumigaura, Japan

Toshio Iwakuma
Environmental Biology Division, National Institute for Environmental Studies, Onogawa, Tsukuba, Ibaraki
305, Japan

Received 26 April 1991; in revised form 29 January 1992; accepted 5 February 1992

Key words: Chironomidae, emergence, eutrophic lake, production-emergence relationship

Abstract

Seasonal chironomid emergence was monitored in the shallow eutrophic Lake Kasumigaura and 18 spe-
cies were collected with a battery-operated light trap fixed on a floating stage and with surface emer-
gence traps. During October-December, samples in the light trap comprised exclusively
Tokunagayusurika akamusi (Tokunaga) and small numbers of one or two other species. T. akamusi,
Procladuis (Holotanypus) culiciformis (L.), and Chironomusplumosus (L.) constituted 91.6% of the annual
catch of chironomid adults. The predominance of T. akamusi (75.3 y0 of chironomid catch) and the high
ratio (13) of T. akamusi to C. plumosus was more marked in this lake than other Japanese eutrophic lakes.
Glyptotendipes tokunagai Sasa and Dicrotendipes pelochloris (Kieffer) were also caught abundantly with
the light trap, but not with surface traps, indicating these were littoral species. The dry weight of emerging
adults during May-December 1982 was 2.87 g m-*, of which 1.92 g me2 (67%) was T. akamusi and
0.67 g m-* (23 %) C. plumosus and 0.23 g m-* (8%) Clinotanypus sugiyamai Tokunaga and 0.03 g m-*
(l%)P. fff.) cu 1icif ormis. The weight of emerging Tanypodinae was much higher than the annual mean
larval biomass or estimated larval production, which have been due to underestimating the population
density using an Ekman-Birge dredge. High numbers of individuals and species of chironomids were
caught during April-July, presumably as a result of the high food supply for chironomid communities.

Introduction 1957; Learner & Potter, 1974; Titmus, 1979; Jon-

A large chironomid, Tokunagayusurika akamusi
(Tokunaga) is the predominant species in Japa-
nese eutrophic lakes and emerges massively dur-
ing late autumn (Yamagishi & Fukuhara, 1971;
Iwakuma et al., 1988, 1989). The high emergence
peak in autumn is quite different from the patterns
observed in European waters, where chironomid
species emerge mainly during May-July (Mundie,
sson, 1987).
Previous studies on the seasonal emergence of
chironomids in Japanese waters have been con-
ducted mainly for the dominant species e.g. lotic
Chironomus yoshimatsui Martin et Sublette (Mi-
hara & Inoue, 1977; Ohno & Shimizu, 1982) and
lentic Chironomus plumosus (L.) and T. akamusi
(Yamagishi & Fukuhara, 1971; Iwakuma & Ya-
suno, 1983; Iwakuma et al., 1989). Information
28
on the seasonal emergence pattern of chironomid
communities is available only for brackish lakes
(Miura et al., 1984) or a man-made lake (Suguri
et al., 1989) where T. akamusi and C. plumosus
are less abundant. These weekly or monthly ob-
servations suggest that chironomid emergence
may be high during June-July for species other
than the two large chironomids.
In Lake Kasumigaura, the second largest lake
in Japan, surveys on the distribution and biomass
of the chironomid community have revealed that
T. akamusi and C. plumosus are the key species
(Iwakuma et al.; 1984b, Iwakuma, 1987). Studies
on the production, emergence and the ecological
role in nutrient cycling have therefore been con-
ducted mainly for these two species (Iwakuma &
Yasuno, 1983; Iwakuma et al., 1984a).
The objective of the present study was to clarify
the communities and dynamics of chironomids,
including the species less abundant than T. aku-
musi and C. plumosus. The seasonal pattern of
chironomid emergence was investigated using a
light trap fixed on a floating stage moored in the
Tsuchiura
~?~~--~~I~
_ .a - 300N
,’
Fig. I. Lake Kasumigaura showing sampling locations. Depth contours of 3 m and 5 m are shown.
lake, which probably excluded chironomids from
the surrounding waters such as ditches, paddy
fields and fish culture ponds and minimized con-
tamination by insects of terrestrial origin. Surface
emergence traps were also used to obtain quan-
titative emergence data to compare with the lar-
val production.
Materials and methods
The study was conducted at Takahamairi Bay,
the most eutrophic basin in Lake Kasumigaura
(surface area 171 km2, mean depth 4.0 m, maxi-
mum depth 7.3 m, altitude of lake surface 0.14 m
and hydraulic retention time 0.55 yr, Fig. 1). The
lake has no ice cover period. The mean chloro-
phyll a concentration in lake water and the gross
annual primary production were 117 pg l- ’ and
763 gC me2 yr-l, respectively, at station 2 dur-
ing 1982-1983 (Takamura et al., 1987).
Chironomid emergence was monitored with a
light trap (Ikeda Rika) on a floating stage at sta-
140’15’E 140’3O’E
36010’N
/
3
Edosakiiri Bay Y
River Tone