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Treeholes are detritus-based communities, and resource quantity and quality play a large role in structuring such communities. The primary resource is leaf litter, but decaying invertebrates also are a resource to treehole inhabitants. These communities are subject to a variety of disturbances, which may affect resources or cause widespread mortality. When dead inhabitants decay, they provide a potentially high-quality resource to survivors or subsequent colonists. We predicted that variation in decaying larvae (0, 7.3, and 29.2 mg/liter) and leaf litter (1, 5, and 10 g/liter) would influence the performance of populations of Aedes triseriatus (Say), the eastern treehole mosquito. We tested this prediction in field mesocosms, which were subjected to a freezing event causing widespread mortality of the scirtid beetle Helodes pulchella Guerin. We then added a cohort of first instar mosquitoes to mesocosms, and we monitored their development from March until June 2005. At the highest leaf litter level, survival, adult mass, and time to complete development were unaffected by decaying scirtids, and they were different from treatments with lower levels of leaf litter. In treatments with 1 and 5 g/liter leaf litter and decaying scirtids, mosquito survival and adult mass were higher than in treatments with 1 and 5 g/liter leaf litter and no decaying scirtids. At 5 g/liter leaf litter, a higher mass of dead scirtids was required to significantly increase adult mass. Faster decay of carcasses and release of limiting nutrients likely spur growth of microorganisms, upon which mosquitoes feed. Invertebrate populations in high-disturbance communities may be subject to high mortality, and mosquitoes hatching after the disturbance will benefit, but only when other resources are limiting. |
