Reprint of: ``Climate change effects on water-dependent ecosystems in south-western Australia'' [J. Hydrol. 434--435 (2012) 95--109]

Barron, Olga; Silberstein, Richard; Ali, Riasat; Donohue, Randall J.; McFarlane, Don; Davies, Phil; Hodgson, Geoff; Smart, N.; Donn, Michael J.

doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2012.02.049

Cited by 11 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…Meanwhile at the higher rainfall extent of the catchment, increasing frequencies of immature plants on riparian floodplains experiencing declines in inundation frequency indicate the expansion of the riparian vegetation into areas that were previously uninhabitable, and potentially narrowing of the river channel. Downscaled climate models for the SWWA project declines of between 5 and 75 fewer flow-days per year by 2030, on top of the deficits already observed (Barron et al, 2012). Given the apparent shifts in climatic optima already observed here, further flow reductions are likely to significantly impact the riparian vegetation.…”

Section: Implications For Climate Changementioning

confidence: 54%

“…A significant decline in the frequency and magnitude of wet weather systems has been observed in SWWA since the 1970's (Hope et al, 2006), resulting in a 16% decline in rainfall, and culminating in reductions of over 50% in surface runoff in some rivers and water storage dams (Petrone et al, 2010). This trend in declining rainfall is predicted to continue under modeled future climate scenarios (Barron et al, 2012;Silberstein et al, 2012;Hope et al, 2015). As the major climatic driver of vegetation types across the region, rainfall declines are predicted to shift optimal climatic envelopes for vegetation communities (Hamer et al, 2015;Ramalho et al, 2017).…”

Section: Study Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, wide spread flooding resulting from a cyclonic depression in 1978 has been attributed with a mass recruitment event of E. rudis and M. rhaphiophylla (Pettit et al, 2001;Bureau of Meteorology, 2021). Second, even with significant reductions in river flows, the river is unlikely to cease to flow completely (Barron et al, 2012) thus habitat will continue to be available for riparian species, where soils are too saturated for upland species to survive, albeit over a smaller geographic range. Instead, we might expect to see a compositional shift to a greater proportion of mesic, facultative and upland species as further reductions in the inhibitory high flow events are observed (Froend and Sommer, 2010;Garssen et al, 2014).…”

Section: Implications For Climate Changementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The buffering effect of riparian systems in the face of climate warming hinges on the resilience of the hydrological processes under changed climatic conditions (Davis et al, 2019). In regions with warming and drying climates, the hydrological regime driving water availability in riparian systems is also under threat (Barron et al, 2012), placing specialist riparian species under stress from both hydrological conditions and increasing competition from upland species (Garssen et al, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Evidence of Range Shifts in Riparian Plant Assemblages in Response to Multidecadal Streamflow Declines

2021

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Riparian corridors are thought to form hydrological refugia that may buffer species and communities against regional climate changes. In regions facing a warming and drying climate, however, the hydrological regime driving riparian communities is also under threat. We examined recruitment in response to streamflow declines for species inhabiting the riparian zone in southwest Western Australia, testing the extent to which the riparian system has buffered riparian communities from the drying climate. We stratified 49 vegetation transects across the >600 mm per annum regional rainfall gradient encompassed by the Warren River Catchment. Local hydrological conditions were estimated over two 10-year periods; 1980–1989, and 2001–2010, to quantify changes in the flood regime. Mixed effects models tested the relationship between rainfall and flooding on the relative frequency of immature to mature individuals of 17 species of trees and shrubs common to the riparian zones. At the low-rainfall extent of their geographic range, the relative frequency of immature riparian species decreased with declining flow, whereas at the high-rainfall extent of their geographic range the relative frequency of immature individuals increased with declining flow. These results suggest that the geographic ranges of riparian species may be contracting at the low-rainfall margin of their range, while at the high-rainfall margin of their geographic range, reduced flooding regimes appear to be opening up new habitat suitable for recruitment and narrowing the river corridor. No such patterns were observed in upland species, suggesting the river may be buffering upland species. We discuss these findings and their implications for ongoing management and species conservation in a region projected to face further, significant rainfall declines.

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Section: Implications For Climate Changementioning

confidence: 54%

Section: Study Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Implications For Climate Changementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Evidence of Range Shifts in Riparian Plant Assemblages in Response to Multidecadal Streamflow Declines

2021

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“…Changes in climate and land-use are some of the greatest threats to biodiversity across freshwater, marine and terrestrial biomes (Sala et al, 2000). Impacts in drying climates include increased evaporation (e.g., McFarlane et al, 2020), shorter hydroperiods (e.g., Sim et al, 2013) and increased air and water temperatures (Andrys et al, 2017;Barron et al, 2012). Urbanisation may alter vegetation around wetlands, increase number of invasive species and pollution (Lake et al, 2000), groundwater abstraction (Nanda et al, 2021) and land-use change (Sala et al, 2000).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long‐term differences in population structure, body size and distribution patterns of amphipods and isopods in wetlands with declining hydroperiods

Emery‐Butcher,

Beatty,

Robson

2024

Freshwater Biology

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In many regions, climatic drying is shortening hydroperiods and freshwater biodiversity is declining. Aquatic species that lack a desiccation‐resistant life stage are predicted to have the least ability to persist in drying climates, yet such species may occur in intermittent waterbodies. We examined the distribution of two crustacean species that lack desiccation‐resistant life stages: the isopod Paramphisopus palustris and amphipod Chiltoniidae sp.nov., before and after the commencement of severe climatic drying in Swan Coastal Plain wetlands, south‐western Australia. Historical distribution data for these species were obtained from studies of the same set of wetlands in 1989–1990. We determined whether population or body size differed between hydrological regimes (perennial, semi‐perennial, seasonal) between 1989–1990 and 2018–2019 for both species. Amphipods, isopods and environmental variables were sampled from 42 wetlands in 2018–2019. Thirty‐three wetlands (22 perennial, 11 seasonal) persisted with the same hydrological regime in both time periods and eight wetlands that were perennial in 1989–1990 had shifted to a drier hydrological regime (four became semi‐perennial, four became seasonal) by 2018–2019. Drying wetland hydrological regimes did not correspond to more limited spatial distributions for either species. Hydrological regime had no effect on amphipod counts, although abundances were lower in 2018–2019 than 1989–1990. In 2018–2019, male amphipods were larger than females in seasonal wetlands, but sexes were the same size in perennial wetlands and females were larger than males in semi‐perennial wetlands. Furthermore, amphipods of both sexes were considerably smaller in semi‐perennial than seasonal or perennial wetlands. Isopod distributions differed between the two sampling periods, with populations primarily lost from wetlands that remained perennial. This unexpected result was likely caused by prolonged periods of high summer–autumn water temperatures and stratification in shallow perennial wetlands that caused anoxia in bottom waters and made surface waters excessively hot for isopods. By contrast, drying seasonal wetlands seemingly offered suitable habitat in summer–autumn. Mean isopod head and body length did not differ between hydrological regimes or sexes, but became smaller between 1989–1990 and 2018–2019 (15 mm average body length in 1989 vs. 8.3 mm in 2018–2019; 17 mm maximum size in 1989–1990 vs. 13.2 mm in 2018–2019). The absence of population losses associated with drying hydrological regimes indicates that the current level of drying is within the tolerance range of both species. However, increased temperatures may be causing body size (and possibly fecundity) to decline for isopods. As global warming continues to shorten wetland hydroperiods in many regions, numerous species will struggle to complete their life cycles, leading to extirpation. Our findings suggest that climate change may also cause conditions in perennial wetlands to exceed the tolerances of species that lack desiccation resistance traits. This emphasises the need to better understand both environmental and habitat changes along the drying trajectory in wetlands and the fundamental life‐history and physiological traits that enable the survival of aquatic invertebrates that lack desiccation resistance. This includes not only species responses to drying, but also responses to other stressors (e.g., prolonged stratification) caused by global warming.

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Observed and predicted impacts of climate change on the estuaries of south-western Australia, a Mediterranean climate region

et al. 2017

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Reprint of: ``Climate change effects on water-dependent ecosystems in south-western Australia'' [J. Hydrol. 434--435 (2012) 95--109]

Cited by 11 publications

References 42 publications

Evidence of Range Shifts in Riparian Plant Assemblages in Response to Multidecadal Streamflow Declines

Evidence of Range Shifts in Riparian Plant Assemblages in Response to Multidecadal Streamflow Declines

Long‐term differences in population structure, body size and distribution patterns of amphipods and isopods in wetlands with declining hydroperiods

Observed and predicted impacts of climate change on the estuaries of south-western Australia, a Mediterranean climate region

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