This study compares densities of common larval dipterans collected fro
m areas dominated by Pontederia cordata in 10 natural and 10 created f
reshwater herbaceous wetlands in central Florida. At each wetland, 7 c
ore samples were collected from each of 5 stations during summer 1993.
In addition, stem densities, vegetation areal coverage, pH, dissolved
oxygen, water temperature, water depth, conductivity, sediment qualit
y, and leaf litter were measured at 3 locations near each of the 5 sta
tions in each wetland. Of the 57 dipteran taxa collected, 20 occurred
with sufficient abundance to justify statistical comparison. Despite a
large sampling effort, there were no significant differences in densi
ties of 20 commonly occurring taxa found in created and natural wetlan
ds after considering the effect of multiple univariate tests. Comparis
on of environmental variables showed significant differences in stem d
ensities for vegetation other than P. cordata, pH, conductivity, and s
ediment quality. Canonical correspondence analysis, used to relate env
ironmental and biological variables, suggests that pH, conductivity, a
nd sediment quality are only weakly related to dipteran community stru
cture. Despite differences in environmental conditions, there is no co
nvincing evidence of differences in natural and created wetland dipter
an communities.