A global perspective on the functional responses of stream communities to flow intermittence

The current erosion of biodiversity is a major concern that threatens the ecological integrity of ecosystems and the ecosystem services they provide. Due to global change, an increasing proportion of river networks are drying and changes from perennial to non‐perennial flow regimes represent dramati...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ecography (Copenhagen) Vol. 44; no. 10; pp. 1511 - 1523
Main Authors: Crabot, Julie, Mondy, Cedric P., Usseglio‐Polatera, Philippe, Fritz, Ken M., Wood, Paul J., Greenwood, Michelle J., Bogan, Michael T., Meyer, Elisabeth I., Datry, Thibault
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.10.2021
John Wiley & Sons, Inc
Wiley
Subjects:
Biodiversity
Biodiversity loss
Body size
Drying
Ecology
Ecosystem dynamics
Ecosystem integrity
Ecosystem services
ecosystems
Environmental Sciences
Fecundity
Flow
fragmentation
Functional groups
global change
Integrity
Life span
life-history traits
longevity
Macroinvertebrates
Networks
Redundancy
River networks
Rivers
species diversity
streams
Taxonomy
temporary rivers
biodiversity loss
life-history traits
temporary rivers
global change
fragmentation
ISSN:0906-7590, 1600-0587
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:The current erosion of biodiversity is a major concern that threatens the ecological integrity of ecosystems and the ecosystem services they provide. Due to global change, an increasing proportion of river networks are drying and changes from perennial to non‐perennial flow regimes represent dramatic ecological shifts with potentially irreversible alterations of community and ecosystem dynamics. However, there is minimal understanding of how biological communities respond functionally to drying. Here, we highlight the taxonomic and functional responses of aquatic macroinvertebrate communities to flow intermittence across river networks from three continents, to test predictions from underlying trait‐based conceptual theory. We found a significant breakpoint in the relationship between taxonomic and functional richness, indicating higher functional redundancy at sites with flow intermittence higher than 28%. Multiple strands of evidence, including patterns of alpha and beta diversity and functional group membership, indicated that functional redundancy did not compensate for biodiversity loss associated with increasing intermittence, contrary to received wisdom. A specific set of functional trait modalities, including small body size, short life span and high fecundity, were selected with increasing flow intermittence. These results demonstrate the functional responses of river communities to drying and suggest that on‐going biodiversity reduction due to global change in drying river networks is threatening their functional integrity. These results indicate that such patterns might be common in these ecosystems, even where drying is considered a predictable disturbance. This highlights the need for the conservation of natural drying regimes of intermittent rivers to secure their ecological integrity.
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PMCID: PMC8554635
J. Crabot and C. P. Mundy contributed equally to this publication. JC, TD, CM and PUP worked on the conceptualization of the study. CM, JC, PUP and TD did the statistical analysis. JC, CM, TD, PUP, MG, KF, EM, MB and PW wrote the original draft. TD, EM, MG, KF, MB and PW provided resources.
Author contributions
ISSN:0906-7590
1600-0587
DOI:10.1111/ecog.05697