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Impacts of global changes and extreme hydroclimatic events on macroinvertebrate community structures in the French Rhône River

  • Global Change and Conservation Ecology
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Abstract

We assessed the temporal changes in and the relationships between the structures of the macroinvertebrate communities and the environmental conditions of the French Rhône River (the river from Lake Geneva to the Mediterranean Sea) over the last 20 years (1985–2004). Multisite environmental and biological datasets were analysed using multiple CO-inertia analysis (MCOA) and Procrustean analysis. Changes in environmental conditions were mainly marked by an improvement in water quality between 1985 and 1991 and by an increase in water temperature from 1985 onwards due to climate change. Improvement in water quality seemed to delay changes in community structures under global warming. We then observed trends in community structures coupled with high temperatures and a decrease in oxygen content. Interestingly, we observed both gradual changes and rapid switches in community states. These shifts seemed coupled to extreme hydroclimatic events (i.e. pulse disturbances). Floods and the 2003 heatwave enhanced the development of eurytolerant and invasive taxa which were probably able to take advantage of gradual warming environmental conditions. Despite various site-specific “press” constraints (e.g. hydropower schemes, nuclear power plants), similar changes in community structures were observed along the French Rhône River. Such consistency in temporal processes at large geographical scales underlined the strength of hydroclimatic constraints on community dynamics compared to specific local disturbances. Finally, community structures did not show any sign of recovery, and their relative sensitivities to extreme hydroclimatic events seemed to increase with time. Thus, our results suggest that global changes may reduce the resilience of current community states.

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Acknowledgments

We thank all persons who collected the biological data, especially Pâquerette Dessaix (ARALEP), Marie-Claude Roger (Cemagref-Lyon) and Jean-Claude Berget (Cemagref-Aix). This study formed part of the research program “Thermal study of the Rhône River. Stage III. Relationship between temperature and biology”. We thank Electricité de France (EDF) for their financial support and for allowing the biological data to be used. We thank Alain Poirel (EDF) for providing the temperature data. Finally, we thank Christophe Bonenfant and Alejandro Isla for their helpful comments on the early manuscript draft and Prof. Eric Pattee for reviewing the English of the final draft.

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  1. Pierre Bady

    Present address: Institut Universitaire de Médecine Sociale et Préventive, Centre d’Epidémiologie Clinique bureau 147, rue du Bugnon 17, 1005, Lausanne, Switzerland

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Leibniz-Institut für Meereswissenschaften, IFM-GEOMAR, FB3 - Marine Ökologie, Düsternbrooker Weg 20, 24105, Kiel, Germany

    Martin Daufresne

  2. UMR CNRS 5023 ‘Écologie des hydrosystèmes fluviaux’, Université Lyon-1, 43, bd du 11-Novembre-1918, 69622, Villeurbanne cedex, France

    Pierre Bady

  3. ARALEP, Écologie des Eaux Douces, Domaine Scientifique de la Doua, Bât. CEI , BP 2132, 69603, Villeurbanne cedex, France

    Jean-François Fruget

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Correspondence to Martin Daufresne.

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Communicated by Ulrich Sommer.

Priority programme of the German Research Foundation—contribution 15

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Daufresne, M., Bady, P. & Fruget, JF. Impacts of global changes and extreme hydroclimatic events on macroinvertebrate community structures in the French Rhône River. Oecologia 151, 544–559 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-006-0655-1

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