Mesoclimate scale effects of river intermittency on aquatic insects in Seto Inland Sea watersheds, Western Japan

Abstract

The responses of assemblages and ecosystems to river intermittency are often considered on large spatial scales, such as those associated with the Köppen climate classification. However, river intermittency may naturally occur even in humid regions, and the effects may differ from those where intermittency occurs throughout the area. This study aimed to examine the differences in taxonomic and trait composition of aquatic insects between intermittent rivers in the Seto Inland Sea watersheds and neighboring humid-temperate rivers in Japan using national census data. While the climate in the most part of the Japanese Archipelago is categorized as humid-temperate, and rivers are usually perennial, local climate in the Seto Inland Sea watersheds has low summer precipitation compared with that in neighboring regions, thereby resulting in river intermittency. Consistent with the previous studies in the regions where rivers are intermittent on a large spatial scale, we observed that aquatic insects with multivoltinism and/or aerial respiration notably tolerated river intermittency. In contrast, the aquatic insect fauna in Japanese intermittent rivers represented subsets of those in the humid-temperate rivers, although previous studies such in Mediterranean regions have reported high endemism and species diversity in intermittent rivers. These results highlight the importance of exploring the role of river intermittency on small to medium spatial scales, as well as on large scales, to project effects of ongoing and future climate changes on species diversity.