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Multi-taxa colonisation along the foreland of a vanishing equatorial glacier

Rosero, Pedro LU orcid ; Crespo-Pérez, Verónica ; Espinosa, Rodrigo ; Andino, Patricio ; Barragán, Álvaro ; Moret, Pierre ; Gobbi, Mauro ; Ficetola, Gentile Francesco ; Jaramillo, Ricardo and Muriel, Priscilla , et al. (2021) In Ecography 44(7). p.1010-1021
Abstract

Retreating glaciers, icons of climate change, release new potential habitats for both aquatic and terrestrial organisms. High-elevation species are threatened by temperature increases and the upward migration of lowlands species. Improving our understanding of successional processes after glacier retreat becomes urgent, especially in the tropics, where glacier shrinkage is particularly fast. We examined the successional patterns of aquatic invertebrates, ground beetles, terrestrial plants, soil eukaryotes (algae, invertebrates, plants) in an equatorial glacier foreland (Carihuairazo, Ecuador). Based on both taxonomical identification and eDNA metabarcoding, we analysed the effects of both environmental conditions and age of... (More)

Retreating glaciers, icons of climate change, release new potential habitats for both aquatic and terrestrial organisms. High-elevation species are threatened by temperature increases and the upward migration of lowlands species. Improving our understanding of successional processes after glacier retreat becomes urgent, especially in the tropics, where glacier shrinkage is particularly fast. We examined the successional patterns of aquatic invertebrates, ground beetles, terrestrial plants, soil eukaryotes (algae, invertebrates, plants) in an equatorial glacier foreland (Carihuairazo, Ecuador). Based on both taxonomical identification and eDNA metabarcoding, we analysed the effects of both environmental conditions and age of deglacierization on community composition. Except for algae, diversity increased with time since deglacierization, especially among passive dispersers, suggesting that dispersal was a key driver structuring the glacier foreland succession. Spatial β-diversity was mainly attributed to nestedness for aquatic invertebrates, terrestrial plants and soil algae, likely linked to low environmental variability within the studied glacier foreland; and to turnover for soil invertebrates, suggesting competition exclusion at the oldest successional stage. Pioneer communities were dominated by species exhibiting flexible feeding strategies and high dispersal ability (mainly transported by wind), probably colonising from lower altitudes, or from the glacier in the case of algae. Overall, glacier foreland colonisation in the tropics exhibit common characteristics to higher latitudes. High-elevation species are nevertheless threatened, as the imminent extinction of many tropical glaciers will affect species associated to glacier-influenced habitats but also prevent cold-adapted and hygrophilous species from using these habitats as refuges in a warming world.

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publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
early succession, equatorial glacier foreland, glacier retreat, multiple-taxa
in
Ecography
volume
44
issue
7
pages
12 pages
publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
external identifiers
  • scopus:85100885657
ISSN
0906-7590
DOI
10.1111/ecog.05478
language
English
LU publication?
no
additional info
Funding Information: – Part of this work was funded and conducted in the framework of the International Joint Laboratory GREAT‐ICE, a joint initiative of the IRD, universities and institutions in Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia. Part of the fieldwork was funded by Pontificia Universidad del Ecuador, Grant Agreement no. M13434 (Efecto del rápido retroceso glaciar sobre la biodiversidad en ecosistemas tropicales de altura). GFF and LG were funded by the European Research Council under the European Community's Horizon 2020 Programme, Grant Agreement no. 772284 (IceCommunities). Co‐authors from University of Grenoble acknowledge the support of LabEx OSUG@2020 (Investissements d'avenir – ANR10 LABX56). This study is part of the project Life Without Ice, funded by the BNP Paribas Foundation. The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript. Funding Funding Information: – We warmly thank Leonardo Punina for his technical support in the field. Part of the glaciological data was provided by the Service National d'Observation GLACIOCLIM () funded by CNRS‐INSU, IRD, Université Grenoble Alpes and GREAT ICE. We thank the two anonymous reviewers for their constructive suggestions on a previous version of the manuscript. Acknowledgments Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Authors. Ecography published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Nordic Society Oikos
id
001ac8e8-67ee-49b3-9368-b78dbb5121c6
date added to LUP
2022-10-19 13:34:03
date last changed
2023-03-01 22:09:59
@article{001ac8e8-67ee-49b3-9368-b78dbb5121c6,
  abstract     = {{<p>Retreating glaciers, icons of climate change, release new potential habitats for both aquatic and terrestrial organisms. High-elevation species are threatened by temperature increases and the upward migration of lowlands species. Improving our understanding of successional processes after glacier retreat becomes urgent, especially in the tropics, where glacier shrinkage is particularly fast. We examined the successional patterns of aquatic invertebrates, ground beetles, terrestrial plants, soil eukaryotes (algae, invertebrates, plants) in an equatorial glacier foreland (Carihuairazo, Ecuador). Based on both taxonomical identification and eDNA metabarcoding, we analysed the effects of both environmental conditions and age of deglacierization on community composition. Except for algae, diversity increased with time since deglacierization, especially among passive dispersers, suggesting that dispersal was a key driver structuring the glacier foreland succession. Spatial β-diversity was mainly attributed to nestedness for aquatic invertebrates, terrestrial plants and soil algae, likely linked to low environmental variability within the studied glacier foreland; and to turnover for soil invertebrates, suggesting competition exclusion at the oldest successional stage. Pioneer communities were dominated by species exhibiting flexible feeding strategies and high dispersal ability (mainly transported by wind), probably colonising from lower altitudes, or from the glacier in the case of algae. Overall, glacier foreland colonisation in the tropics exhibit common characteristics to higher latitudes. High-elevation species are nevertheless threatened, as the imminent extinction of many tropical glaciers will affect species associated to glacier-influenced habitats but also prevent cold-adapted and hygrophilous species from using these habitats as refuges in a warming world.</p>}},
  author       = {{Rosero, Pedro and Crespo-Pérez, Verónica and Espinosa, Rodrigo and Andino, Patricio and Barragán, Álvaro and Moret, Pierre and Gobbi, Mauro and Ficetola, Gentile Francesco and Jaramillo, Ricardo and Muriel, Priscilla and Anthelme, Fabien and Jacobsen, Dean and Dangles, Olivier and Condom, Thomas and Gielly, Ludovic and Poulenard, Jérôme and Rabatel, Antoine and Basantes, Rubén and Cáceres Correa, Bolívar and Cauvy-Fraunié, Sophie}},
  issn         = {{0906-7590}},
  keywords     = {{early succession; equatorial glacier foreland; glacier retreat; multiple-taxa}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{7}},
  pages        = {{1010--1021}},
  publisher    = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
  series       = {{Ecography}},
  title        = {{Multi-taxa colonisation along the foreland of a vanishing equatorial glacier}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ecog.05478}},
  doi          = {{10.1111/ecog.05478}},
  volume       = {{44}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}