TY  - JOUR
A1  - Sundermann, Andrea
A1  - Müller, Andreas
A1  - Halle, Martin
T1  - A new index of a water temperature equivalent for summer respiration conditions of benthic invertebrates in rivers as a bio-indicator of global climate change
T2  - Limnologica : ecology and management of inland waters
N2  - Detailed information on species temperature preferences are needed to measure the effects of global warming on species and communities in European rivers. However, information currently available in the literature on taxon-specific temperature preferences or temperature tolerances is very heterogeneous and therefore not well suited for forecasting purposes. To close this gap, we derived so-called ’central temperature tendencies’ (CTTt values) for benthic invertebrate species. For this end, 547 species and temperature data from regional monitoring programmes in Germany collected at 4249 sites were analysed. Due to the vulnerability of species to high
temperatures, CTTt values were calculated for mean summer temperatures, following a robust approach of calculating a weighted average based on temperature classes. Derived CTTt values correspond well to species temperature preferences as reported in literature as long as the latter were homogeneous in terms of how they were derived and which temperature reference was at focus. Based on taxon-specific CTTt values, a community value, CTTCom, was calculated for each benthic invertebrate sample. CTTCom values were validated by correlation with mean summer water temperatures. As the slope a of the linear regression model between CTTCom values and measured summer temperatures was comparatively low (a = 0.49), a correction function was derived in order to optimise the relation between both. This was crucial, because it is assumed that although CTTt was derived solely from taxa abundances within summer temperature classes, CTTCom not only reflects the effect of (summer) water temperature itself, but also corresponds to a temperature equivalent value, which describes the overall quality of all respiration-relevant aquatic summer habitat conditions that determine the metabolism of respective benthic invertebrates. By comparing this equivalent value with water temperatures measured in the year previous of sampling, statements can be made about the influence of flow conditions and other factors determining oxygen availability.
Thus, CTTCom reflects the mean aerobic scope of the overall benthic invertebrate fauna: the better the respiration conditions for rheophilic species with high oxygen demand, the larger the aerobic scope and the lower CTTCom.
The approach taken in our study is promising and provides a tool to track and even project past, present, and future impacts of global warming on benthic invertebrates in rivers based on measured values of respiratory relevant environmental variables. We encourage all stakeholders in the field of freshwater ecology to test this
KW  - Macrozoobenthos
KW  - Temperature preference
KW  - Streams
KW  - Oxygen
KW  - Global warming
Y1  - 2022
UR  - http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/63116
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-631162
SN  - 0075-9511
N1  - This work was supported by KLIWA - Working group on climate change and water management, consisting of the environmental agencies of the German states of Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria and Rhineland-Palatinate in cooperation with the DWD (German Meteorological Service) (www.kliwa.de). Results have already partly been published in German (Halle et al., 2020, 2016). In these publications, CTTCom is referred to as KLIWA-IndexMZB or KIMZB, partly with further additional suffix specifications, e.g. for water body type-specific index variants.
VL  - 95
IS  - art. 125980
PB  - Elsevier
CY  - Amsterdam [u.a.]
ER  -