Fell Sarah C, Carrivick Jonathan L, Brown Lee E
Sarah Fell (
Bioscience. 2017 Oct 1;67(10):897-911. doi: 10.1093/biosci/bix107. Epub 2017 Sep 20.
Climate change is driving the thinning and retreat of many glaciers globally. Reductions of ice-melt inputs to mountain rivers are changing their physicochemical characteristics and, in turn, aquatic communities. Glacier-fed rivers can serve as model systems for investigations of climate-change effects on ecosystems because of their strong atmospheric-cryospheric links, high biodiversity of multiple taxonomic groups, and significant conservation interest concerning endemic species. From a synthesis of existing knowledge, we develop a new conceptual understanding of how reducing glacier cover affects organisms spanning multiple trophic groups. Although the response of macroinvertebrates to glacier retreat has been well described, we show that there remains a relative paucity of information for biofilm, microinvertebrate, and vertebrate taxa. Enhanced understanding of whole river food webs will improve the prediction of river-ecosystem responses to deglaciation while offering the potential to identify and protect a wider range of sensitive and threatened species.
气候变化正在促使全球许多冰川变薄并退缩。山区河流的融冰补给减少，正在改变其物理化学特征，进而影响水生生物群落。由于冰川补给河流与大气-冰冻圈联系紧密、多个分类群生物多样性高以及对特有物种具有重大保护意义，因此可作为研究气候变化对生态系统影响的模型系统。通过综合现有知识，我们对冰川覆盖减少如何影响多个营养级的生物形成了新的概念性理解。尽管大型无脊椎动物对冰川退缩的反应已有充分描述，但我们发现生物膜、微型无脊椎动物和脊椎动物类群的相关信息仍然相对匮乏。深入了解整个河流食物网将有助于更好地预测河流生态系统对冰川消退的反应，同时有可能识别和保护更多敏感和受威胁的物种。
