Physical and biological changes to a lengthening stream gradient following a decade of rapid glacial recession

Global Change Biology

Volumn 16, Issue 12, 2010, Pages 3314-3326

  Finn, Debra S ^a   Räsänen, Katja ^a   Robinson, Christopher T ^a  

^a SWISS FEDERAL INSTITUTE OF AQUATIC SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY   (Switzerland)

Author keywords

Biological diversity; Climate change; Environmental gradient; Flow regime; Glacier fed streams; Macroinvertebrates; Swiss Alps; Val Roseg; Water temperature

Indexed keywords

BIODIVERSITY; CLIMATE CHANGE; ENVIRONMENTAL GRADIENT; ICE STREAM; MACROINVERTEBRATE; STREAMWATER; WATER TEMPERATURE;

ALPS; GRAUBUNDEN; SWITZERLAND; TSCHIERVA GLACIER; VAL ROSEG;

EID: 77952953664     PISSN: 13541013     EISSN: 13652486     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2486.2009.02160.x     Document Type: Article

References (64)

1. Abell R (2002) Conservation biology for the biodiversity crisis: a freshwater follow-up. Conservation Biology, 16, 1435-1437.
2. Arp CD, Baker MA (2007) Discontinuities in stream nutrient uptake below lakes in mountain drainage networks. Limnology and Oceanography, 52, 1978-1990.
3. Bales RC, Molotch NP, Painter TH, Dettinger MD, Rice R, Dozier J (2006) Mountain hydrology of the western United States. Water Resources Research, 42, W08432.
4. Beckage B, Osborne B, Gavin DG, Pucko C, Siccama T, Perkins T (2008) A rapid upward shift of a forest ecotone during 40 years of warming in the Green Mountains of Vermont. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 105, 4197-4202.
5. Benda L, Poff NL, Miller D et al. (2004) The network dynamics hypothesis: how channel networks structure riverine habitats. Bioscience, 54, 413-427.
6. Brown LE, Hannah DM, Milner AM (2007a) Vulnerability of alpine stream biodiversity to shrinking glaciers and snowpacks. Global Change Biology, 13, 958-966.
7. Brown LE, Milner AM, Hannah DM (2006) Stability and persistence of alpine stream macroinvertebrate communities and the role of physicochemical habitat variables. Hydrobiologia, 560, 159-173.
8. Brown LE, Milner AM, Hannah DM (2007b) Groundwater influence on alpine stream ecosystems. Freshwater Biology, 52, 878-890.
9. Brown PD, Wurtsbaugh WA, Nydick KR (2008) Lakes and forests as determinants of downstream nutrient concentrations in small mountain watersheds. Arctic Antarctic and Alpine Research, 40, 462-469.
10. Buisson L, Thuiller W, Lek S, Lim P, Grenouillet G (2008) Climate change hastens the turnover of stream fish assemblages. Global Change Biology, 14, 2232-2248.
11. Burgherr P, Ward JV (2001) Longitudinal and seasonal distribution patterns of the benthic fauna of an alpine glacial stream (Val Roseg, Swiss Alps). Freshwater Biology, 46, 1705-1721.
12. Burgherr P, Ward JV, Robinson CT (2002) Seasonal variation in zoobenthos across habitat gradients in an alpine glacial floodplain (Val Roseg, Swiss Alps). Journal of the North American Benthological Society, 21, 561-575.
13. Castella E, Adalsteinsson H, Brittain JE et al. (2001) Macrobenthic invertebrate richness and composition along a latitudinal gradient of European glacier-fed streams. Freshwater Biology, 46, 1811-1831.
14. Chen IC, Shiu HJ, Benedick S et al. (2009) Elevation increases in moth assemblages over 42 years on a tropical mountain. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 106, 1479-1483.
15. Collins DN (2006) Climatic variation and runoff in mountain basins with differing proportions of glacier cover. Nordic Hydrology, 37, 315-326.
16. Collins DN (2008) Climatic warming, glacier recession and runoff from Alpine basins after the Little Ice Age maximum. Annals of Glaciology, 48, 119-124.
17. Crimmins TM, Crimmins MA, Bertelsen CD (2009) Flowering range changes across an elevation gradient in response to warming summer temperatures. Global Change Biology, 15, 1141-1152.
18. Dudgeon D, Arthington AH, Gessner MO et al. (2006) Freshwater biodiversity: importance, threats, status and conservation challenges. Biological Reviews, 81, 163-182.
19. Finn DS, Poff NL (2005) Variability and convergence in benthic communities along the longitudinal gradients of four physically similar Rocky Mountain streams. Freshwater Biology, 50, 243-261.
20. Finn DS, Poff NL (2008) Emergence and flight activity of alpine stream insects in two years with contrasting winter snowpack. Arctic Antarctic and Alpine Research, 40, 638-646.
21. Finn DS, Theobald DM, Black WC, Poff NL (2006) Spatial population genetic structure and limited dispersal in a rocky mountain alpine stream insect. Molecular Ecology, 15, 3553-3566.
22. Füreder L (2007) Life at the edge: habitat condition and bottom fauna of Alpine running waters. International Review of Hydrobiology, 92, 491-513.
23. Grant EHC, Lowe WH, Fagan WF (2007) Living in the branches: population dynamics and ecological processes in dendritic networks. Ecology Letters, 10, 165-175.
24. Haldorsen S, Heim M (1999) An Arctic groundwater system and its dependence upon climatic change: an example from Svalbard. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes, 10, 137-149.
25. Hari RE, Livingstone DM, Siber R, Burkhardt-Holm P, Guttinger H (2006) Consequences of climatic change for water temperature and brown trout populations in Alpine rivers and streams. Global Change Biology, 12, 10-26.
26. Harper MP, Peckarsky BL (2006) Emergence cues of a mayfly in a high-altitude stream ecosystem: potential response to climate change. Ecological Applications, 16, 612-621.
27. Hauer FR, Baron JS, Campbell DH et al. (1997) Assessment of climate change and freshwater ecosystems of the Rocky Mountains, USA and Canada. Hydrological Processes, 11, 903-924.
28. Hieber M, Robinson CT, Uehlinger U, Ward JV (2002) Are alpine lake outlets less harsh than other alpine streams? Archiv für Hydrobiologie, 154, 199-223.
29. Hieber M, Robinson CT, Uehlinger U, Ward JV (2005) A comparison of benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages among different types of alpine streams. Freshwater Biology, 50, 2087-2100.
30. Hogg ID, Williams DD (1996) Response of stream invertebrates to a global-warming thermal regime: an ecosystem-level manipulation. Ecology, 77, 395-407.
31. Ilg C, Castella E (2006) Patterns of macroinvertebrate traits along three glacial stream continuums. Freshwater Biology, 51, 840-853.
32. IPCC (2007) Climate Change 2007: Synthesis Report. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.
33. Jurasinski G, Kreyling J (2007) Upward shift of alpine plants increases floristic similarity of mountain summits. Journal of Vegetation Science, 18, 711-718.
34. Knispel S, Sartori M, Brittain JE (2006) Egg development in the mayflies of a Swiss glacial floodplain. Journal of the North American Benthological Society, 25, 430-443.
35. Lenoir J, Gegout JC, Marquet PA, De Ruffray P, Brisse H (2008) A significant upward shift in plant species optimum elevation during the 20th century. Science, 320, 1768-1771.
36. Livingstone DM, Lotter AF, Kettle H (2005) Altitude-dependent differences in the primary physical response of mountain lakes to climatic forcing. Limnology and Oceanography, 50, 1313-1325.
37. Lytle DA, Bogan MT, Finn DS (2008) Evolution of aquatic insect behaviours across a gradient of disturbance predictability. Proceedings of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences, 275, 453-462.
38. Malard F, Uehlinger U, Zah R, Tockner K (2006) Flood-pulse and riverscape dynamics in a braided glacial river. Ecology, 87, 704-716.
39. McCune B, Mefford MJ (2006) PC-ORD: Multivariate Analysis of Ecological Data, Version 5. MjM Software, Gleneden Beach, OR, USA.
40. Mielke PWJ, Berry KJ (2001) Permutation Methods: A Distance Function Approach. Springer, Berlin.
41. Milner AM, Brittain JE, Castella E, Petts GE (2001) Trends of macroinvertebrate community structure in glacier-fed rivers in relation to environmental conditions: a synthesis. Freshwater Biology, 46, 1833-1847.
42. Milner AM, Brown LE, Hannah DM (2009) Hydroecological response of river systems to shrinking glaciers. Hydrological Processes, 23, 62-77.
43. Milner AM, Knudsen EE, Soiseth C et al. (2000) Colonization and development of stream communities across a 200-year gradient in Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska, USA. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, 57, 2319-2335.
44. Milner AM, Petts GE (1994) Glacial rivers: physical habitat and ecology. Freshwater Biology, 32, 295-307.
45. Milner AM, Robertson AL, Monaghan KA, Veal AJ, Flory EA (2008) Colonization and development of an Alaskan stream community over 28 years. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 6, 413-419.
46. Parmesan C, Yohe G (2003) A globally coherent fingerprint of climate change impacts across natural systems. Nature, 421, 37-42.
47. Penuelas J, Boada M (2003) A global change-induced biome shift in the Montseny mountains (NE Spain). Global Change Biology, 9, 131-140.
48. Poff NL, Allan JD, Bain MB et al. (1997) The natural flow regime. Bioscience, 47, 769-784.
49. Robinson CT, Uehlinger U, Hieber M (2001) Spatio-temporal variation in macroinvertebrate assemblages of glacial streams in the Swiss alps. Freshwater Biology, 46, 1663-1672.
50. Shama LNS, Robinson CT (2006) Sex-specific life-history responses to seasonal time constraints in an alpine caddisfly. Evolutionary Ecology Research, 8, 169-180.
51. Shama LNS, Robinson CT (2009) Microgeographic life history variation in an alpine caddisfly: plasticity in response to seasonal time constraints. Freshwater Biology, 54, 150-164.
52. Snook DL, Milner AM (2001) The influence of glacial runoff on stream macroinvertebrate communities in the Taillon catchment, French Pyrenees. Freshwater Biology, 46, 1609-1623.
53. Snook DL, Milner AM (2002) Biological traits of macroinvertebrates and hydraulic conditions in a glacier-fed catchment (French Pyrenees). Archiv für Hydrobiologie, 153, 245-271.
54. The Nature Conservancy (2007) Indicators of Hydrologic Alteration Version 7 User's Manual. The Nature Conservancy, Arlington, VA.
55. Tockner K, Malard F, Burgherr P et al. (1997) Physico-chemical characterization of channel types in a glacial floodplain ecosystem (Val Roseg, Switzerland). Archiv für Hydrobiologie, 140, 433-463.
56. Uehlinger U, Malard F, Ward JV (2003) Thermal patterns in the surface waters of a glacial river corridor (Val Roseg, Switzerland). Freshwater Biology, 48, 284-300.
57. Vannote RL, Sweeney BW (1980) Geographic analysis of thermal equilibria: a conceptual model for evaluating the effect of natural and modified thermal regimes on aquatic insect communities. American Naturalist, 115, 667-695.
58. Visser ME (2008) Keeping up with a warming world: assessing the rate of adaptation to climate change. Proceedings of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences, 275, 649-659.
59. Walther GR, Post E, Convey P et al. (2002) Ecological responses to recent climate change. Nature, 416, 389-395.
60. Ward JV (1986) Altitudinal zonation in a Rocky Mountain stream. Archiv für Hyrdrobiologie, Supplement, 74, 133-199.
61. Ward JV (1989) The 4-dimensional nature of lotic ecosystems. Journal of the North American Benthological Society, 8, 2-8.
62. Ward JV (1994) Ecology of alpine streams. Freshwater Biology, 32, 277-294.
63. Ward JV, Uehlinger U (Eds.) (2003) Ecology of a Glacial Flood Plain. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, the Netherlands.
64. Zemp M, Haeberli W, Hoelzle M, Paul F (2006) Alpine glaciers to disappear within decades? Geophysical Research Letters, 33, L13504.