Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units Program: Arkansas
Education, Research and Technical Assistance for Managing Our Natural Resources

Globally, stoneflies are one of the most threatened aquatic orders in the world as a result of climate change, pollution, and benthic substrate loss. In Arkansas, a group of winter stonefly (Capniidae: Allocapnia) includes multiple rare and endemic species that have not been surveyed since the 1980s because species-level identification requires the adult form, which is rarely collected. Our study objectives were to use existing larval Allocapnia data collected in Arkansas to examine what stream environmental conditions could be associated with presence and to determine how Allocapnia distribution may have shifted with climate change since the 1980s. We used species distribution modeling to predict where there species occur within the region. This information will be used to inform sampling design and effort across Arkansas study sites in winter 2020-2021 that will provide species-specific population distribution and status in Arkansas.