open access

https://hdl.handle.net/2115/49050

Distribution and activity of intranivean invertebrates in snowmelt season in Aomori Prefecture, northern Japan

日本語

interstitial fauna

2012-03-31

Institute of Low Temperature Science, Hokkaido University

Low Temperature Science

70

113-117

Vertical distribution and activities of intranivean invertebrates were studied in snowmelt season in northern Japan. The intranivean invertebrates were dominated by copepods, dipteran larvae and oligochaetes,and they increased toward the bottom. High structural similarity between snow and soil animals strongly suggested that the intranivean invertebrates were derived from subnivean fauna. All the harpacticoids recovered from the less wet snow in the middle layers were died often with seriously damaged in their appendages. On the other hand, most of those in the lower and waterbearing layers of the snow showed active movement. Many precopulating pairs were found in the harpacticoids there. It is suggested that inundated granular snow in the late snowmelt season can provide interstices which harbor many small aquatic animals such as copepods and oligochaetes.

紀要論文

Version of Record

1880-7593