The effect of water temperature changes on biological water quality assessment
Increasing temperatures caused by anthropogenic climate change are leading to changes in the composition of local communities across biomes. This has implications for ecological assessment methods that rely on macroinvertebrates as bioindicators of water quality. To investigate the influence of chan...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2024-02-01
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| Series: | Ecological Indicators |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X24001092 |
| _version_ | 1797295830167715840 |
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| author | Imran Khaliq Emma Chollet Ramampiandra Christoph Vorburger Anita Narwani Nele Schuwirth |
| author_facet | Imran Khaliq Emma Chollet Ramampiandra Christoph Vorburger Anita Narwani Nele Schuwirth |
| author_sort | Imran Khaliq |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Increasing temperatures caused by anthropogenic climate change are leading to changes in the composition of local communities across biomes. This has implications for ecological assessment methods that rely on macroinvertebrates as bioindicators of water quality. To investigate the influence of changing water temperature on these assessment methods, we analysed macroinvertebrate data from Swiss national monitoring programs. We used a species distribution model to simulate temperature change effects on macroinvertebrate communities and estimated the resulting changes on three biological indices commonly used in Switzerland, namely the species richness of Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and Trichoptera (EPT), the Swiss biological (IBCH) index along with its components, as well as the species at risk pesticides (SPEARpesticides) index. While results vary by temperature scenario and index, our model results for the most realistic water temperature increase scenario of + 2 °C across most sites in Switzerland suggest no, or only a minor, influence of temperature (not accounting for other hydrological changes). Our model projection predicted only a small increase in the probability of occurrence for 70 % of the studied families. The sensitivity to temperature as captured in our model is generally not very high and varies among the biological indices: on average across all sites, a + 2 °C increase in temperature resulted in a 7 % increase in EPT species richness, a 4 % increase in the IBCH index, and a less than 1 % increase in the SPEARpesticides index. Our study suggests the robustness of these biological indices to moderate warming and points towards the usefulness of these biological indices for the next few decades as tools for water quality assessment. Despite some limitations of statistical species distribution models (e.g., not accounting for dispersal limitation or biotic interactions, predictive performance varying by taxon), the study provides valuable insights into the complex relationships between environmental factors and macroinvertebrate communities, and the potential impacts of future temperature change. These findings can inform conservation and management efforts for these important ecological systems. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T21:53:38Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c0420f41963c4c548842245dc2cbfb05 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1470-160X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T21:53:38Z |
| publishDate | 2024-02-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Ecological Indicators |
| spelling | doaj.art-c0420f41963c4c548842245dc2cbfb052024-02-25T04:35:01ZengElsevierEcological Indicators1470-160X2024-02-01159111652The effect of water temperature changes on biological water quality assessmentImran Khaliq0Emma Chollet Ramampiandra1Christoph Vorburger2Anita Narwani3Nele Schuwirth4Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Department of Aquatic Ecology, Dübendorf, Switzerland; Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Department of Systems Analysis, Integrated Assessment and Modelling, Dübendorf, Switzerland; Department of Zoology, Government (defunct) College, Dera Ghazi Khan, Pakistan; Corresponding author at: Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Department of Aquatic Ecology, Dübendorf, Switzerland.Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Department of Systems Analysis, Integrated Assessment and Modelling, Dübendorf, Switzerland; ETH Zürich, Institute of Biogeochemistry and Pollutant Dynamics, 8092 Zürich, SwitzerlandEawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Department of Aquatic Ecology, Dübendorf, Switzerland; ETH Zürich, Institute of Biogeochemistry and Pollutant Dynamics, 8092 Zürich, SwitzerlandEawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Department of Aquatic Ecology, Dübendorf, SwitzerlandEawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Department of Systems Analysis, Integrated Assessment and Modelling, Dübendorf, Switzerland; ETH Zürich, Institute of Biogeochemistry and Pollutant Dynamics, 8092 Zürich, SwitzerlandIncreasing temperatures caused by anthropogenic climate change are leading to changes in the composition of local communities across biomes. This has implications for ecological assessment methods that rely on macroinvertebrates as bioindicators of water quality. To investigate the influence of changing water temperature on these assessment methods, we analysed macroinvertebrate data from Swiss national monitoring programs. We used a species distribution model to simulate temperature change effects on macroinvertebrate communities and estimated the resulting changes on three biological indices commonly used in Switzerland, namely the species richness of Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and Trichoptera (EPT), the Swiss biological (IBCH) index along with its components, as well as the species at risk pesticides (SPEARpesticides) index. While results vary by temperature scenario and index, our model results for the most realistic water temperature increase scenario of + 2 °C across most sites in Switzerland suggest no, or only a minor, influence of temperature (not accounting for other hydrological changes). Our model projection predicted only a small increase in the probability of occurrence for 70 % of the studied families. The sensitivity to temperature as captured in our model is generally not very high and varies among the biological indices: on average across all sites, a + 2 °C increase in temperature resulted in a 7 % increase in EPT species richness, a 4 % increase in the IBCH index, and a less than 1 % increase in the SPEARpesticides index. Our study suggests the robustness of these biological indices to moderate warming and points towards the usefulness of these biological indices for the next few decades as tools for water quality assessment. Despite some limitations of statistical species distribution models (e.g., not accounting for dispersal limitation or biotic interactions, predictive performance varying by taxon), the study provides valuable insights into the complex relationships between environmental factors and macroinvertebrate communities, and the potential impacts of future temperature change. These findings can inform conservation and management efforts for these important ecological systems.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X24001092Biological indicesMacroinvertebrate species richnessIBCH indexSPEARpescticides indexClimate changeWater quality assessment |
| spellingShingle | Imran Khaliq Emma Chollet Ramampiandra Christoph Vorburger Anita Narwani Nele Schuwirth The effect of water temperature changes on biological water quality assessment Ecological Indicators Biological indices Macroinvertebrate species richness IBCH index SPEARpescticides index Climate change Water quality assessment |
| title | The effect of water temperature changes on biological water quality assessment |
| title_full | The effect of water temperature changes on biological water quality assessment |
| title_fullStr | The effect of water temperature changes on biological water quality assessment |
| title_full_unstemmed | The effect of water temperature changes on biological water quality assessment |
| title_short | The effect of water temperature changes on biological water quality assessment |
| title_sort | effect of water temperature changes on biological water quality assessment |
| topic | Biological indices Macroinvertebrate species richness IBCH index SPEARpescticides index Climate change Water quality assessment |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X24001092 |
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