Real-time warming of alpine streams: (re)defining invertebrates' temperature preferences

The accelerating climate crisis intensifies environmental changes in high-altitude ecosystems worldwide, with rising air temperature among the main stressors. While past research in alpine streams has primarily focused on how retreating glaciers might affect the ecology of glacier-fed streams on the long run, observations of real-time alterations of water temperature in such pristine environments are rare. Using long-term measurements of water temperature (2010-2017) together with datasets on benthic invertebrate communities from 18 glacial and nonglacial alpine and subalpine streams in the European Alps, we illustrate significant ecological relationships of water temperature regimes and the identity of benthic communities and forecast changes thereof due to considerable warming of stream water. Besides reporting multiannual warming of all observed streams during summer with a mean rate of 2.5(+/- 0.6)degrees C decade(-1), this work redefines temperature optima and ranges using robust regression modelling and thereby identifies potential winners and losers among the invertebrate species. We conclude that the various invertebrate taxa in alpine stream networks will respond differently to thermal alterations and that the herein modelled temperature ranges of invertebrates is an essential step towards the understanding of future shifts in species distributions and success.

Automated summary

The accelerating climate crisis is intensifying environmental changes in high-altitude ecosystems, particularly through rising air temperatures. By analyzing long-term water temperature data, researchers have highlighted significant ecological relationships between water temperature regimes and benthic communities, predicting changes due to significant warming in stream water. The study identifies potential winners and losers among invertebrate species and emphasizes the importance of understanding future shifts in species distributions.