A trait-based approach to assess the vulnerability of European aquatic insects to climate change.

摘要

Aquatic insects are the dominant taxon group in most freshwater ecosystems. As temperature is the main driver of their life cycle development, metabolic activity, and geographic distribution, these macroinvertebrates are particularly suitable for large scale and comparative studies of freshwater community responses to climate change. A dataset of bio-ecological traits of 1,942 Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera (EPT) taxa was used to analyze (1) the relationships among traits, (2) the potential vulnerability of EPT species to climate change, and (3) the geographical occurrence patterns of these potentially endangered species at the scale of European ecoregions. By means of a fuzzy correspondence analysis (FCA), two gradients emerged: (1) a longitudinal gradient, describing successive upstream-downstream features, and (2) a biogeographical gradient, separating endemic and micro-endemic species from widely distributed taxa. Moreover, aquatic insects of southern European ecoregions emerged as those most endangered in terms of potential vulnerability to climate change. Comparative multi-taxon studies provide important new insights into freshwater ecosystem functioning and responses to climate change, and could be the first step toward developing integrative monitoring or assessment tools (e.g., trait-based indicators at the species level) by means of non-arbitrary statistical methods.