2023-11-07 カーディフ大学
◆この研究はウェールズの小川や川に気候変動が与える影響を調査しました。ウェールズの小川や川は、気温や降水量の変化によって影響を受け、流れのパターンや水温に変化をもたらします。研究はリン・ブライアン・ストリーム観測所で行われ、40年以上にわたるデータに基づいています。この研究からは、大西洋など他の地域での気候変動がイギリスの川の品質と野生動物にも影響を及ぼすことが示唆されています。気象条件の変化が小川の昆虫に影響を及ぼし、種の組成が温暖な年との間で不安定になっています。
◆これは気候変動の影響がますます顕著になる中で重要な問題となっています。この研究は、気象条件によって遠くの地域にまで影響が及ぶことを示し、気候変動の影響を減少させるための対策として、生物多様性の保護と回復、高地の景観の管理などが挙げられています。
<関連情報>
- https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/news/view/2778861-warmer,-wetter-winters-bring-risks-to-river-insects
- https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gcb.17017
温帯源流域の無脊椎動物の40年にわたる同調性と安定性に対する気候の影響 Climatic effects on the synchrony and stability of temperate headwater invertebrates over four decades
Stefano Larsen, Fiona Joyce, Ian P. Vaughan, Isabelle Durance, Jonathan A. Walter, Steve J. Ormerod
Global Change Biology Published: 07 November 2023
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.17017
Abstract
Important clues about the ecological effects of climate change can arise from understanding the influence of other Earth-system processes on ecosystem dynamics but few studies span the inter-decadal timescales required. We, therefore, examined how variation in annual weather patterns associated with the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) over four decades was linked to synchrony and stability in a metacommunity of stream invertebrates across multiple, contrasting headwaters in central Wales (UK). Prolonged warmer and wetter conditions during positive NAO winters appeared to synchronize variations in population and community composition among and within streams thereby reducing stability across levels of ecological organization. This climatically mediated synchronization occurred in all streams irrespective of acid–base status and land use, but was weaker where invertebrate communities were more functionally diverse. Wavelet linear models indicated that variation in the NAO explained up to 50% of overall synchrony in species abundances at a timescale of 4–6 years. The NAO appeared to affect ecological dynamics through local variations in temperature, precipitation and discharge, but increasing hydrochemical variability within sites during wetter winters might have contributed. Our findings illustrate how large-scale climatic fluctuations generated over the North Atlantic can affect population persistence and dynamics in inland freshwater ecosystems in ways that transcend local catchment character. Protecting and restoring functional diversity in stream communities might increase their stability against warmer, wetter conditions that are analogues of ongoing climate change. Catchment management could also dampen impacts and provide options for climate change adaptation.
