The structure of the aquatic insect community associated with intertidal pools on a New Jersey salt marsh

Abstract. 1. Landlocked intertidal pools (potholes) are one of the common aquatic habitats associated with eastern North American salt marshes. 2. Twenty species of insects, of which only eight were common, occurred in the pothole habitat. The harshness of the physical environment incurred in the pothole habitat is largely responsible for this depauperate insect community. 3. Spatial variation in the diversity of the insect community is best explained by differential densities of predaceous fish. 4. Seasonal changes in insect community diversity are attributable to fluctuations in water temperature and accompanying levels of dissolved oxygen.