User:Joeybrown8/Hydropsychidae

Environmental indicators

Due to hydropsychid's presence in a wide range of freshwater environments worldwide and there very specific standards of living, hydropychid's are favored as an indicator species. Some genera, sensitive to certain contaminants or pollutants, suffer declines in growth and/or survival while others thrive in their absence. Species like C. morosa, C. walkeri, D. modesta, Hydropsyche leonardi, and P. apicalis are found only in unpolluted streams while species like Hydropsyche bidens, H. orris, H. phalerata, H. placoda, H. simulans. and P. flava inhabit decaying or dead wood. Others species like the C. morosa (bifida form) and Hydropsyche betteni can withstand high levels of organic pollution and thrive in those conditions.The habitat range for this family encompasses a huge area in total and can found in most freshwater areas with running water worldwide.Thus, like a canary in a coal mine, researchers can examine stream hydropsychidae populations to assess stream health (see EPT or Index of biological integrity). Researchers can look at the contents of the web as well as the materials of the actual web structure to determine stream health. Hydropsychidae species will adapt the web depending on the building resource availability more so than food availability. This can help to create an environment inhabited by many different species due to the different habitat types between them. Many different species in the same area with different standards allows for a broad view of the area's available building resources as well as food types. These food types are often fine organic matter caught within their silk net attached to their retreat that can be used to assess the health of other common species within the same stream on top of being a great indicator of overall stream health and its contents.

Their presence is also often pointed to as an indicator of relative temperature depending on the densities of the various species present with some species being better suited for higher temperatures and others lower temperatures. The diverse nature of hydropychid sensitivities and resistances is one of the many indicators of global warming worldwide and makes them highly susceptible to the negative changes associated with global warming. Hydropsychidae species can require specific temperature ranges throughout the year that have been altered already. Overall mortality increases and less retreats are made when temperatures exceed seasonal averages. These changes have already been seen in tropical environments and are expected to become more commonplace across various environments as seasonal averages continue to rise.