Recent Lebensspuren in Nonmarine Aquatic Environments

Diverse faunas exist in nonmarine aquatic environments, and the animals make distinctive tracks, trails, tubes, and burrows. For example, certain beetles make dwellings or feeding burrows and pupal chambers. Midge fly larvae and aquatic earthworms extensively rework lake bottoms and lentic parts of rivers. Caddisfly larvae use clastic grains and plant material to construct unique, mobile dwelling cases. Snails and clams make abundant surface traces and resting burrows. Distinctive shore tracks and trails, dwelling burrows and similar structures, hibernation burrows, feeding traces, and nesting structures are made by aquatic and semiaquatic, freshwater vertebrates of diverse types.

The principles of ecology and ichnology that apply to nonmarine aquatic animals and environments are the same as marine ones; only the parameters are different. Consequently, ichnological studies made on local streams or lakes can yield equally interesting and instructive results; and much work remains to be done.