Our very own Rob Hinchliffe (Lab Supervisor/Aquatic Invertebrate Taxonomist) at the Royal Alberta Museum truly lives his work. As an avid fly fisherman, he knows the streams of Alberta… and most (if not all) of what lives in them. Lucky for us and other Albertans, he documents his experience in his blog Trout Fodder “Musings of a Fly Fishing Entomologist: your guide to Alberta hatches, aquatic entomology and fly fishing.”
Here is a short excerpt:
“We often think of aquatic insect populations as being relatively stable on any given stream – with perhaps some variation in the timing of the hatch. But in reality, population levels can vary substantially from one year to the next as overall stream conditions change (e.g. average and peak temperatures, average and peak flows, predation, parasites, etc.). This leads to years where the population of a particular species is low, and years where the population is high (think about how mosquito populations can vary depending on local conditions). Of course when a prey source is abundant, the predators (i.e. trout) take notice.”
For more, please check out Rob’s blog at http://troutfodder.blogspot.ca/