The Oxygen Requirements and Thermal Resistance of Chironomid Larvae from Flowing and from Still Waters

Extensive surveys of the distribution of chironomid larvae have established the fact that the majority of species are strikingly restricted in their habitat: the causes of this specialization, however, remain largely undetermined. For a few species comprehensive ecological work has made it possible to deduce the factors important in determining distribution (Thienemann, 1923, 1928; Lenz, 1925), but an experimental attack on the physiology and behaviour of larval and adult chironomids in relation to their choice of habitat remains almost a virgin field.