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Ecological responses to multiple-scale flow fluctuation in tropical glacier-fed streams

Abstract:

Glacier-fed streams display very specific flow regime characterized by a strong temporal variability at various temporal scales due to the complexity of the water storages and releases by glaciers. However, the acceleration of glacier shrinkage under the ongoing climate change results in a strong alteration of glacier runoff. In particular, we expect an increase in both low and high extreme flow events. In a tropical glacierized catchment, we examined the relationship between flow fluctuation and aquatic community composition from the diurnal to the inter-annual time scales to identify the mechanisms driving the community structure and predict the aquatic biodiversity response to changes in flow regime under global warming. Based on long-term observational studies, we showed that the benthic fauna was highly adapted to the natural flow fluctuation and displayed both resistance and resilience to high-flow events …