Hydrodynamics rather than water temperature shapes the macroinvertebrate communities in alpine rivers on the Qinghai–Xizang Plateau
4 affiliations
- 1State Key Laboratory of Hydroscience and Engineering, Department of Hydraulic Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China
- 2State Key Laboratory of Hydroscience and Engineering, Department of Hydraulic Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China; Corresponding author.
- 3Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, 430072, China
- 4Key Laboratory for Water and Sediment Sciences, Ministry of Education, College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China
Abstract
Climate change is rapidly altering global glacier-fed rivers, with prevailing models assuming that water temperature increases dictate aquatic community succession. However, this thermal-centric paradigm struggles to explain biodiversity patterns within the extreme topographic and hydrologic gradients of the Third Pole. By analyzing macroinvertebrate assemblages across the Yarlung Tsangpo Basin, we show that hydrodynamic condition, rather than water temperature, primarily influences biodiversity and community assembly in these high-altitude alpine rivers. With hydrodynamic intensity indicated by specific stream power, taxa richness exhibits a universal unimodal response, consistently peaking under moderate hydrodynamic intensity (1 to 10 W m −2 ). Extreme stream power acts as a severe physical filter, driving a stark taxonomic shift from filamentous-gilled species in moderate flows to robust, flat-bodied specialists capable of resisting ultra-high-power environments. These findings demonstrate that localized hydrodynamic modulation—rather than unattainable temperature control—provides a highly viable, climate-resilient strategy to safeguard biodiversity in the Third Pole and analogous alpine river networks worldwide.
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BibTeX
@article{luo2026hydrodynamics,
title = {{Hydrodynamics rather than water temperature shapes the macroinvertebrate communities in alpine rivers on the Qinghai–Xizang Plateau}},
author = {Yaqi Luo and Mengzhen Xu and Xiongdong Zhou and Dongfeng Li and Xudong Fu},
journal = {Environmental Science and Ecotechnology},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.1016/j.ese.2026.100752},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ese.2026.100752},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Hydrodynamics rather than water temperature shapes the macroinvertebrate communities in alpine rivers on the Qinghai–Xizang Plateau
AU - Yaqi Luo
AU - Mengzhen Xu
AU - Xiongdong Zhou
AU - Dongfeng Li
AU - Xudong Fu
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/01
JO - Environmental Science and Ecotechnology
DO - 10.1016/j.ese.2026.100752
UR - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ese.2026.100752
AB - Climate change is rapidly altering global glacier-fed rivers, with prevailing models assuming that water temperature increases dictate aquatic community succession. However, this thermal-centric paradigm struggles to explain biodiversity patterns within the extreme topographic and hydrologic gradients of the Third Pole. By analyzing macroinvertebrate assemblages across the Yarlung Tsangpo Basin, we show that hydrodynamic condition, rather than water temperature, primarily influences biodiversity and community assembly in these high-altitude alpine rivers. With hydrodynamic intensity indicated by specific stream power, taxa richness exhibits a universal unimodal response, consistently peaking under moderate hydrodynamic intensity (1 to 10 W m −2 ). Extreme stream power acts as a severe physical filter, driving a stark taxonomic shift from filamentous-gilled species in moderate flows to robust, flat-bodied specialists capable of resisting ultra-high-power environments. These findings demonstrate that localized hydrodynamic modulation—rather than unattainable temperature control—provides a highly viable, climate-resilient strategy to safeguard biodiversity in the Third Pole and analogous alpine river networks worldwide.
SN - 2666-4984
ER -