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Freshwater species distributions along thermal gradients

  • The distribution of a species along a thermal gradient is commonly approximated by a unimodal response curve, with a characteristic single optimum near the tempera‐ture where a species is most likely to be found, and a decreasing probability of occur‐rence away from the optimum. We aimed at identifying thermal response curves (TRCs) of European freshwater species and evaluating the potential impact of climate warming across species, taxonomic groups, and latitude. We first applied generalized additive models using catchment‐scale global data on distribution ranges of 577 freshwater species native to Europe and four different temperature variables (the current annual mean air/water temperature and the maximum air/water temperature of the warmest month) to describe species TRCs. We then classified TRCs into one of eight curve types and identified spatial patterns in thermal responses. Finally, we in‐tegrated empirical TRCs and the projected geographic distribution of climate warm‐ing to evaluate the effect of rising temperatures on species’ distributions. For the different temperature variables, 390–463 of 577 species (67.6%–80.2%) were char‐acterized by a unimodal TRC. The number of species with a unimodal TRC decreased from central toward northern and southern Europe. Warming tolerance (WT = maxi‐mum temperature of occurrence—preferred temperature) was higher at higher lati‐tudes. Preferred temperature of many species is already exceeded. Rising temperatures will affect most Mediterranean species. We demonstrated that fresh‐water species’ occurrence probabilities are most frequently unimodal. The impact of the global climate warming on species distributions is species and latitude depend‐ent. Among the studied taxonomic groups, rising temperatures will be most detri‐mental to fish. Our findings support the efforts of catchment‐based freshwater management and conservation in the face of global warming.

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Metadaten
Author:Oskar KärcherORCiD, Daniel HeringORCiD, Karin FrankORCiD, Danijela Markovic-BredthauerORCiD
Title (English):Freshwater species distributions along thermal gradients
URN:urn:nbn:de:bsz:959-opus-38281
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.4659
Parent Title (English):Ecology and Evolution
Document Type:Article
Language:English
Date of Publication (online):2018/12/18
Release Date:2023/02/01
Tag:Climate change; European freshwater; Generalized additive models; Preferred temperature; Safety margin
Volume:9
Issue:1
First Page:111
Last Page:124
Faculties:Fakultät WiSo
DDC classes:300 Sozialwissenschaften / 333.7 Natürliche Ressourcen, Energie und Umwelt
Review Status:Veröffentlichte Fassung/Verlagsversion
Licence (German):License LogoCreative Commons - CC BY - Namensnennung 4.0 International