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Abstract
Thermal variables are crucial drivers of biological processes in lakes and ponds. In the current context of climate change, determining which factors better constrain their variation within lake districts become of paramount importance for understanding species distribution and their conservation. In this study, we describe the regional and short-term interannual variability in surface water temperature of high mountain lakes and ponds of the Pyrenees. And, we use mixed regression models to identify key environmental factors and to infer mean and maximum summer temperature, accumulated degree-days, diel temperature ranges and three-days’ oscillation. The study is based on 59 lake-temperature series measured from 2001 to 2014. We found that altitude was the primary explicative factor for accumulated degree-days and mean and maximum temperature. In contrast, lake area showed the most relevant effect on the diel temperature range and temperature oscillations, although diel temperature range was also found to decline with altitude. Furthermore, the morphology of the catchment significantly affected accumulated degree-days and maximum and mean water temperatures. The statistical models developed here were applied to upscale spatially the current thermic conditions across the whole set of lakes and ponds of the Pyrenees.
Highlights
Temperature is a key environmental variable in lakes and ponds, since it accelerates biochemical reactions, and increases the rates of many biological and ecological processes including photosynthesis and respiration [1], organic carbon mineralisation [2] organisms’ growth [3], biomass production [4], organisms’ size [5], and ecological processes since it influences thermal niche and species distribution [6], and trophic cascades [7]
We modelled some thermal niche features that are commonly affecting a variety of organisms, namely ice-free period mean and maximum temperature, accumulated degreedays, mean diel temperature range, and temperature oscillation; the latter defined as the difference in maximum temperature between a time-lapse of three days
Diel temperature range (DTR) was calculated as the average of diel temperature ranges over the ice-free period, and temperature oscillation (Tosc) was calculated as the difference in maximum temperatures in a threeday lapse, averaged over the same period
Summary
Temperature is a key environmental variable in lakes and ponds, since it accelerates biochemical reactions, and increases the rates of many biological and ecological processes including photosynthesis and respiration [1], organic carbon mineralisation [2] organisms’ growth [3], biomass production [4], organisms’ size [5], and ecological processes since it influences thermal niche and species distribution [6], and trophic cascades [7]. Accumulated degree-days (ADD), which is the temperature integrated in time over a determined threshold, explain organisms’ development [8], while maximum water temperatures limit growth rate [9] and warming tolerance [10]. Temperature range is essential in explaining life-history traits, as some specialist organisms, occupying a narrow temperature. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript
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