Subterranean ecosystems (e.g., caves, groundwaters, fissure systems) are often overlooked in global climate change and conservation agendas. This contrasts with their widespread distribution, rich biodiversity, importance to humans as providers of multiple ecosystem services. Worryingly, evidence is accumulating regarding diverse biological alterations subterranean under exposure. Yet, we lack quantification the magnitude these impacts across scales components. Here, assembled a dataset...

Elevation gradients provide powerful study systems for examining the influence of environmental filters in shaping species assemblages. High-mountain habitats host specific high-elevation assemblages, often comprising specialist adapted to endure pronounced abiotic stress, while such harsh conditions prevent lowland from colonizing or establishing. While thermal tolerance may drive altitudinal segregation ectotherms, its role structuring aquatic insect communities remains poorly explored....

Exposing organims to a particular stressor may enhance tolerance subsequent stress, when protective mechanisms against both stressors are shared. Such cross-tolerance is common adaptive response in dynamic multivariate environments and often indicates potential co-evolution of stress traits. Many aquatic insects inland saline waters from Mediterranean-climate regions sequentially challenged with salinity desiccation stress. Thus, these physiologically similar could have been positively...

One of the main challenges in ecology, biogeography and evolution is to understand predict how species may respond environmental changes. Here we focus on deep subterranean environment, a system that minimizes most typical uncertainties studies epigean (surface) environments. Caves are relatively homogeneous habitats with nearly constant conditions simplified biological communities, allowing control for biotic interactions. Thus, this particular could be considered natural habitat whose...

Abstract Physiological traits are key in determining the vulnerability of narrow range, highly specialized animals to climate change. It is generally predicted that species from more stable environments possess lower thermal tolerance breadths and plasticity than those variable habitats – so‐called ‘climatic variability hypothesis’. However, evolutionary trade‐offs between breadth its also seen some taxa, evolution physiology remains poorly understood. Subterranean excellent systems for...

Abstract High mountain areas are especially vulnerable to global warming, as they experience faster temperature changes than lowlands in a climate change context. Notably, increased temperatures and frequency of extreme flooding droughts, the consequent decrease ice cover water availability fluctuations, will induce important physical alpine freshwater systems. Thus, assessing thermal limits exploring overwintering strategies aquatic insects is pivotal understanding how communities...

A better knowledge of the physiological basis salinity tolerance is essential to understanding ecology and evolutionary history organisms that have colonized inland saline waters. Coleoptera are amongst most diverse macroinvertebrates in waters, including habitats; however, osmoregulatory strategies they employ deal with osmotic stress remain unexplored. Survival haemolymph concentration at different salinities were examined adults eight aquatic beetle species which inhabit parts...

Background Desiccation resistance shapes the distribution of terrestrial insects at multiple spatial scales. However, responses to drying stress have been poorly studied in aquatic groups, despite their potential role constraining and diversification, particularly arid semi-arid regions. Methods We examined desiccation adults four congeneric water beetle species ( Enochrus , family Hydrophilidae) with contrasting habitat specificity (lentic vs. lotic systems different salinity optima from...

Cave-dwelling ectotherms, which have evolved for millions of years under stable thermal conditions, could be expected to adjusted their physiological limits the narrow range temperatures they experience and highly vulnerable global warming. However, most few existing studies on tolerance in subterranean invertebrates highlight that despite fact show lower heat than surface-dwelling species, upper are generally not ambient temperature. The question remains what extent this pattern is common...

The climatic variability hypothesis predicts the evolution of species with wide thermal tolerance ranges in environments variable temperatures, and specialists thermally stable environments. In caves, extent spatial temporal experienced by taxa decreases their degree specialization to deep subterranean habitats. We use phylogenetic generalized least squares model relationship among (upper lethal limits), (estimated using ecomorphological traits), habitat temperature 16 beetle tribe...

Abstract Accurate assessments of species' vulnerability to climate change require integrated measurements its different drivers, including extrinsic (the magnitude and rate change) intrinsic factors (organisms' sensitivity adaptive capacity). According these factors, aquatic insects restricted alpine ponds may be especially threatened by change. However, predictions based on such an integrative approach are scarce for pond taxa. We combined distributional, climatic data experimental heat...

Abstract Accurate assessments of species vulnerability to climate change need consider the physiological capacity organisms deal with temperature changes and identify early signs thermally induced stress. Oxidative stress biomarkers acetylcholinesterase activity are useful proxies at cellular nervous system level. Such responses especially relevant for poor dispersal limited behavioural thermoregulation, like deep subterranean species. We combined experimental measurements upper lethal...

Abstract Biodiversity conservation is a central imperative of the 21st century. Subterranean ecosystems deliver critical nature's contributions to people and harbour broad diversity poorly understood specialised organisms. However, subterranean biome still largely overlooked in global biodiversity targets. We assessed how well represented protected areas (Natura 2000 Emerald networks) two hotspots (the Pyrenees Alps). For this, we used comprehensive databases terrestrial taxa, that is,...

Freshwater biodiversity loss is of concern in the Mediterranean Basin, as one global hotspots biodiversity. Despite a number faunistic and taxonomic studies that have been conducted last years African part our knowledge on freshwater patterns this area still very limited. In study, we aim to i) identify areas with highest potential species richness water beetles, estimated from distribution models using two different approaches (MaxEnt Random Forest) ii) conduct gap analysis assess...

1. As species' physiological breadth determines their potential to deal with environmental changes, and influences individuals' survival the persistence of populations, information about lethal sublethal responses could be fundamental for conservation purposes. 2. We used a standard experimental approach explore mortality behavioural avoidance (i.e. flight emersion from water) combination acute heat osmotic stress on six species saline water beetles (belonging Enochrus , Nebrioporus...