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Water temperature stability modulates insect thermal responses at spring fens

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Abstract

Thermal responses of spring insects are poorly understood, yet critically important because temperature regimes of spring habitats can be modified by climate warming. Here, we examined the species-specific responses of aquatic insects to variation in water temperature at 43 undamaged spring fens. Temperature was recorded for 1 year using dataloggers and used to model the abundance of taxa representing spring habitat specialists and generalists, as well as traits indicative of species sensitivity to climate change. Sites differed significantly in thermal conditions, forming a gradient that was largely independent of other principal environmental gradients in the spring fens. Significant responses to temperature parameters were found for 25 of the 56 taxa analysed, showing two types of species associations, with stable or variable thermal conditions. The species significantly responding to temperature variables by an increase or decrease in their abundance were primarily spring specialists, often associated with thermally stable sites with higher winter temperatures. The number of climate-sensitive traits within the insect assemblage was also higher at these sites. Thus, any reduction of water temperature stability may negatively affect many spring specialists and species vulnerable to climate changes. Our results highlight the importance of thermal conditions, particularly temperature stability, for spring insects.

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Data availability

The datasets are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Custom codes are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Vít Syrovátka for the help in the field and chironomid identification and Ondřej Hájek for the map preparation. The study was financially supported by the Czech Science Foundation (P505/20-17305S).

Funding

Funding was provided by the Czech Science Foundation (P505/20-17305S).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Botany and Zoology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlářská 2, 61137, Brno, Czech Republic

    Vendula Polášková, Jindřiška Bojková, Marek Polášek, Vanda Šorfová & Michal Horsák

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  1. Vendula Polášková
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  2. Jindřiška Bojková
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Contributions

Field work, sample processing, and insect identification were performed by VP, JB, VŠ, and MH. Data analysis was performed by VP and MP. All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Most of the manuscript was written by VP and all authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Vendula Polášková.

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Supplementary Information

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10750_2022_5008_MOESM1_ESM.pdf

Appendix A: Air temperature time series (exported from the European E-OBS database) for the years 2000–2020 for 43 sites used in the study. Macroinvertebrate sampling seasons (numbers indicate the number of sites sampled in a given season) and season of water temperature recording (marked as “loggers”) are highlighted by grey lanes. Supplementary file1 (PDF 434 kb)

10750_2022_5008_MOESM2_ESM.pdf

Appendix B: Cluster analysis of the study fens based on temperature variables using Ward’s method and Euclidean distances. Each cluster is marked by a number displayed in Appendix C. Supplementary file2 (PDF 126 kb)

Appendix C (PDF 150 kb)

Appendix D (PDF 169 kb)

Online Resource 1 (PDF 372 kb)

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Polášková, V., Bojková, J., Polášek, M. et al. Water temperature stability modulates insect thermal responses at spring fens. Hydrobiologia 849, 4693–4706 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-022-05008-2

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