| Issue |
Knowl. Manag. Aquat. Ecosyst.
Number 423, 2022
Climate change impact on freshwater communities and ecosystem functioning
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Article Number | 3 | |
| Number of page(s) | 8 | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/kmae/2022003 | |
| Published online | 31 January 2022 | |
Research Paper
The vulnerability of British aquatic insects to climate change
1
Buglife – The Invertebrate Conservation Trust, Unit 4, Beta Centre, Stirling University Innovation Park, Stirling FK9 4NF, UK
2
Environment Agency Horizon House, Deanery Rd, Bristol, BS1 5AH, UK
* Corresponding author: craig.macadam@buglife.org.uk
Received:
15
June
2021
Accepted:
13
January
2022
Freshwater ecosystems are particularly at risk from climate change due to the intrinsic link between the physical properties of the water environment and those species that live there. Mayflies, stoneflies and caddisflies are key indicators of the health of freshwater environments and their biological traits and ecological preferences determine their vulnerability to climate change. Traits and preferences for 289 British species were analysed, with voltinism, length of flight period, altitudinal preference and affinity to headwaters being the main factors causing vulnerability. Sixteen species were deemed to be at risk from climate change. These species are distributed across Great Britain, but particular hotspots of vulnerability are present in upland areas. These areas should be targeted with mitigation measures to reduce the impacts of climate change on populations of aquatic insects.
Key words: Climate / indicators / Ephemeroptera / Plecoptera / Trichoptera
© C.R. Macadam et al., Published by EDP Sciences 2022
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License CC-BY-ND (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material.
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