Originally Posted by
MudderChuck
Maybe the water drying up forces the larvae to pupate and turn into mature flies? They are kind of forced to mature all at once or nearly so and the fly density spikes?
They must have some sort of mechanism to survive winter, either the eggs, larvae or pupae must go dormant for long periods. I've seen the same with Maggots, if they run out of food they will pupate early (under size).
Maybe, Ive always been under the impression that drought just forces deer to use the stagnant water holes where these gnats are concentrated but there could be more to it than that.
The gnats like water, the deer need water, and there is very little water available = lots of interaction between deer and the gnats. Bigger deer need more water = even more exposure.