On the delay between water temperature and invertebrate community response to warming climate

Abstract

We evaluated the effect of global warming on invertebrate communities at high altitudes using data from the Careser system. We procured data on air temperature, which was obtained over 50 years at altitudes above 2600 m a.s.l., and data on water temperature, which was available for approximately 30 years. We sampled thrice in the past 20 years (2001, 2014, 2018) at three sampling sites (CR0-metakryal, CR1-hypokryal, CR2-glacio-rhithral) of the Careser glacier-fed stream and its main non-glacial tributary (CR1bis-krenal). Warmer climates were observed in the last decade compared to the 1980s, with a mean maximum summer air temperature (mTmax) increase of 1.7 °C at 2642 m a.s.l. and 1.8 °C at 2858 m a.s.l. Compared to air temperatures, the rise in water temperature was delayed by approximately 20 years; water mTmax started to increase in 2003, reaching 8.1 °C at 2642 m a.s.l. and 2.4 °C at 2858 m a.s.l in the year 2020. The invertebrate community exhibited a delayed response approximately 13 years from the water warming; there was a sequential increase in the number of taxa, Shannon diversity, and after 17 years, functional diversity. In the kryal sites, taxonomical and functional diversity changed more consistently than in the glacio-rhithral site in the same period, due to the arrival of taxa that were previously absent upstream and bearers of entirely new traits. Progressive taxonomical homogenisation was evident with decreasing glacial influence, mainly between glacio-rhithral and krenal sites. The numbers of Diamesa steinboecki, an insect that was adapted to the cold, declined in summer (water mTmax >6 °C and air mTmax >12 °C). This study highlights the mode and time of response of stream invertebrate communities to global warming in alpine streams and provides guidelines for analysing changes in the stream invertebrate communities of other glacial systems in alpine regions.

Keywords: Chironomids; Community structure; Functional diversity; Glacier-fed streams; Italian Alps; Water temperature.