Spatio-Temporal Dynamics of Macroinvertebrate Communities In
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CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by University of Birmingham Research Portal Spatio-temporal dynamics of macroinvertebrate communities in northeast Greenlandic snowmelt streams Docherty, Catherine; Hannah, David; Riis, Tenna; Lund, Magnus; Abermann, Jakob; Milner, Alexander DOI: 10.1002/eco.1982 License: Creative Commons: Attribution (CC BY) Document Version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Citation for published version (Harvard): Docherty, CL, Hannah, DM, Riis, T, Lund, M, Abermann, J & Milner, AM 2018, 'Spatio-temporal dynamics of macroinvertebrate communities in northeast Greenlandic snowmelt streams: Macroinvertebrate community dynamics in Greenlandic snowmelt streams', Ecohydrology. https://doi.org/10.1002/eco.1982 Link to publication on Research at Birmingham portal General rights Unless a licence is specified above, all rights (including copyright and moral rights) in this document are retained by the authors and/or the copyright holders. 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Take down policy While the University of Birmingham exercises care and attention in making items available there are rare occasions when an item has been uploaded in error or has been deemed to be commercially or otherwise sensitive. If you believe that this is the case for this document, please contact [email protected] providing details and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate. Download date: 01. Feb. 2019 Received: 14 October 2017 Revised: 6 March 2018 Accepted: 26 March 2018 DOI: 10.1002/eco.1982 RESEARCH ARTICLE Spatio‐temporal dynamics of macroinvertebrate communities in northeast Greenlandic snowmelt streams Catherine L. Docherty1,2 | David M. Hannah1 | Tenna Riis3 | Magnus Lund4 | Jakob Abermann5 | Alexander M. Milner1,2,6 1 School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Science, University of Abstract Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK Future climate change throughout the Arctic is expected to increase channel stability 2 Department of Atmospheric Environment in glacially influenced streams through reduced contributions from glacial meltwater and Aquatic Ecosystem, Institute of Mountain Science, Shinshu University, Matsumoto 390‐ and increases in groundwater. In contrast, predictions for northeast Greenland of 8621, Japan increased precipitation for the next 100 years—including winter snowfall—which with 3 Department of Bioscience, Aarhus warmer air temperature, is expected to increase the size of spring floods in snowmelt University, 8000 Aarhus, Denmark 4 Department of Bioscience, Arctic Research streams. Coupled with increased disturbance through frequent summer rainfall Centre, Aarhus University, Frederiksborgvej events, nivation processes and permafrost degradation will reduce resistance of chan- 399, 4000 Roskilde, Denmark nel sediments to erosion and thereby decrease channel stability. Decreased channel 5 Asiaq, Greenland Survey, 3900 Nuuk, Greenland stability will impact macroinvertebrate abundance and diversity. Five streams sourced 6 Institute of Arctic Biology, University of by snowpacks of varying extent were studied over 3 summer seasons (2013–2015) to Alaska, Fairbanks, AK 99775, USA investigate the potential effect of shift in snowmelt regime on macroinvertebrate Correspondence Catherine L. Docherty, School of Geography, communities. Earth and Environmental Science, University Total abundance and taxa richness were significantly higher in streams with small of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK. Email: [email protected] snowpacks, where the chironomid genus Hydrobaenus was the most abundant taxon. Streams with large snowpacks were dominated by the chironomid genus Diamesa. Funding information Multivariate ordination models and correlation indicated that macroinvertebrate com- Carlsberg Foundation, Grant/Award Number: 2013‐01‐0258; European Union Seventh munities were significantly influenced by channel stability and bed sediment size. Framework Programme, Grant/Award Num- Macroinvertebrate abundance was significantly higher in 2013, following low winter ber: 262693; Natural Environment Research Council,Grant/Award Number:NE/L501712/1 snowfall and associated low meltwater inputs to streams, highlighting interannual var- iability in macroinvertebrate communities. A shift towards less stable habitats in snowmelt streams will potentially lead to reduced macroinvertebrate abundance and taxa richness, and local extinction of spe- cialized taxa. Thus, snowmelt‐fed streams in northeast Greenland may respond very differently to changing climate compared with streams in parts of the Arctic domi- nated by glacial meltwater. KEYWORDS Arctic, channel stability, Chironomidae, climate change, freshwater, hydroecology, meltwater, snow -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2018 The Authors Ecohydrology Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd Ecohydrology. 2018;e1982. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/eco 1of13 https://doi.org/10.1002/eco.1982 2of13 DOCHERTY ET AL. 1 | INTRODUCTION macroinvertebrate community structure between years due to an increase in extreme events, varying habitat conditions, and disturbance Climate change is expected to cause large shifts in Arctic ecosystems regimes. Stream studies on increased thermokarst activity in Arctic Can- (Anisimov et al., 2007; Prowse et al., 2009; Prowse, Furgal, Wrona, & ada indicated that high sediment load from increased channel disturbance Reist, 2009; Walsh et al., 2005), with some of the most pronounced can cause decreased macroinvertebrate community complexity in changes in northeast Greenland (Stendel, Christiansen, & Petersen, streams (Chin et al., 2016) by reducing habitat availability, altering water 2008). Air temperature in the region is predicted to increase and due chemistry and causing negative physiological impacts such as the clog- to the reduction in regional sea ice extent, local surface evaporation will ging of feeding and respiratory organs (Jones, Duerdoth, Collins, Naden, result in increased precipitation by up to 60%, falling as rain in summer & Sear, 2012; Lemly, 1982). However, although this has been tested for and snow in winter (Bintanja & Selten, 2014; Stendel et al., 2008). thermokarst activity, this has not been tested in relation to the overall These changes will shift local climatic conditions from a continental effect of climate change on snowmelt‐dominated Arctic streams. high‐Arctic climate towards an increasingly maritime low‐Arctic climate Previous river research in northeast Greenland has largely been with a marked influence on freshwater ecosystems in this region. restricted to hydrological research on sediment and solute transport Glacial meltwater is currently the principal meltwater source for dynamics (Hasholt et al., 2008; Hasholt & Hagedorn, 2000; Ladegaard‐ streams in many regions of the high Arctic. Climate change will lead to Pedersen et al., 2016; Rasch, Elberling, Jakobsen, & Hasholt, 2000; reduced extent of glaciers, which, although for larger glaciers runoff will Søndergaard et al., 2015), whereas ecological studies in freshwater sys- initially increase in the near term, will in the long term or for smaller gla- tems have been principally restricted to lakes and ponds (e.g., ciers lead to decreased glacial runoff and groundwater, becoming a more Christoffersen, Amsinck, Landkildehus, Lauridsen, & Jeppesen, 2008). dominant water source as the active layer deepens (e.g., Blaen, Brown, River ecology research in Greenland has been limited to the more accessi- Hannah, & Milner, 2014; Hannah et al., 2007; Milner, Brown, & Hannah, ble southwest coast (Friberg, Milner, Svendsen, Lindegaard, & Larsen, 2009). These changes are predicted to increase channel stability and 2001; González‐Bergonzoni et al., 2014), thus our understanding of stream water temperature, leading to increased macroinvertebrate density and ecology along the east coast is negligible. The northeast coast of Greenland alpha diversity (Blaen et al., 2014; Brown, Hannah, & Milner, 2007; is more isolated than the west, and is thought to have reduced macroinver- Lods‐Crozet, Lencioni, Brittain, Marziali, & Rossaro, 2007; Milner et al., tebrate diversity due to its northern latitude, its recent deglaciation, and its 2009). However, in areas of low glacial cover such as coastal northeast biogeographical isolation between the Greenland ice sheet and the ocean Greenland, the predicted increases in snowfall (Collins et al., 2013; where harsh environmental conditions