Expanding towards contraction: the alternation of floods and droughts as a fundamental component in river ecology

Abstract

Climate warming is causing more extreme weather conditions, with both larger and more intense precipitation events as well as extended periods of drought in many regions of the world. The consequence is an alteration of the hydrological regime of streams and rivers, with an increase in the probability of extreme hydrological conditions. Mediterranean-climate regions usually experience extreme hydrological events on a seasonal basis and thus, freshwater Mediterranean ecosystems can be used as natural laboratories for better understanding how climate warming will impact ecosystem structure and functioning elsewhere. In this paper, we revisited and contextualized historical and new datasets collected at Fuirosos, a well-studied Mediterranean intermittent stream naturally experiencing extreme hydrological events, to illustrate how the seasonal alternation of floods and droughts influence hydrology, microbial assemblages, water chemistry, and the potential for biogeochemical processing. Moreover, we revised some of the most influential conceptual and quantitative frameworks in river ecology to assess to what extent they incorporate the occurrence of extreme hydrological events. Based on this exercise, we identified knowledge gaps and challenges to guide future research on freshwater ecosystems under intensification of the hydrological cycle. Ultimately, we aimed to share the lessons learned from ecosystems naturally experiencing extreme hydrological events, which can help to better understand warming-induced impacts on hydrological transport and cycling of matter in fluvial ecosystems.