Range predictions for stoneflies (Plecoptera) of the midwest

Animal distributions have changed dramatically within the Midwest during the 20th century. Stoneflies (Plecoptera) are sensitive to changes in water quality and habitat structure and the majority have lost range due to agriculture and urban development. Our approach to reconstructing their ranges uses 24,000 museum and new specimen records, ~100 environmental variables, and Maximum Entropy species distribution models to predict pre-European settlement range and species richness patterns across IL, IN, MI, OH, and WI. Applications include refinement of stream health measures based on expected richness, establishment of conservation status for species, prediction climate related range change, and assessment of the relative risk for 732013range loss for individual species.