Climate change and freshwater ecosystems: impacts across multiple levels of organization

Fresh waters are particularly vulnerable to climate change because (i) many species within these fragmented habitats have limited abilities to disperse as the environment changes; (ii) water temperature and availability are climate-dependent; and (iii) many systems are already exposed to numerous anthropogenic stressors. Most climate change studies to date have focused on individuals or species populations, rather than the higher levels of organization (i.e. communities, food webs, ecosystems). We propose that an understanding of the connections between these different levels, which are all ultimately based on individuals, can help to develop a more coherent theoretical framework based on metabolic scaling,…

• SR
  Sight Research UK

  Awards: NE/D013305/1, NE/E003729/1
• NE
  Natural Environment Research Council

  Awards: NE/E003729/1, NE/D013305/1