Do fallen fruit-dwelling chironomids in streams respond to riparian degradation?

There is little information on the impacts of deforestation on the aquatic insects associated with fallen-fruits in Neotropical streams. Given the argumentation that fallen-fruit dwelling insects may depend on the availability of fruits in streams and consequently on the riparian forest condition, we hypothesized that fallen-fruit dwelling chironomid Endotribelos would differ in streams whose catchments differed in land use, particularly riparian forest conditions. To test this hypothesis we experimentally placed fruits in streams characterized by a gradient of riparian forest degradation We applied correlation analysis between Endotribelos mean density by fruit, number of colonized fruits, and environmental variables. All results evidenced that fallen-fruit chironomid Endotribelos were affected by riparian degradation.