
%0 Journal Article
%A McKie, B. G. L. 
%A Cranston, P. S. 
%T Keystone coleopterans? Colonization by wood-feeding elmids of experimentally immersed woods in south-eastern Australia
%J Marine and Freshwater Research
%D 1998/04/02
%V 49
%N 1
%P 79-88
%K 
%R https://doi.org/10.1071/MF97086
%U https://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/MF97086 
%X Macroinvertebrates on immersed woods in streams in montane south-eastern Australia respond to differences in wood taxa, according to a 4-month colonization study of experimentally positioned sticks. Xylophagous elmids (Coleoptera : Elmidae) strongly preferred local native Eucalyptus over other types of wood including non-native softer timbers (Pinus and Alnus). Where gouging elmids were abundant (in native forest streams with native riparian vegetation), immersed Eucalyptus wood supported high abundances of other macroinvertebrates; in their absence (in open grassland streams), Eucalyptus supported few other macroinvertebrates. Macroinvertebrate-gouged channels were present disproportionately on Eucalyptus sticks relative to other wood species. It is proposed that xylophagous elmid beetles are the principal macroinvertebrate modifiers of wood in these south-eastern Australian streams, where their gouging of channels increases surface area, thereby facilitating colonization by other macroinvertebrates and wood-decaying microorganisms and fungi. 
