Oertli Beat

Bilan des 8 premières années du monitoring des étangs de Macun (Parc National Suisse): évolution de la biodiversité aquatique et relation avec le réchauffement climatique
8 years of moniting the ponds on Macun (SNP): evolution of biodiversity in relation to climate warming

Project Number: CH-4418

Project Type:	Master
Project Duration:	01/01/2011 - 06/30/2011 project completed
Funding Source:	other ,
Project Leader:	Prof. Beat Oertli Institut Terre-Nature-Environnement HEPIA 150, route de Presinge 1254 Jussy-Genève Phone: +41 (0)22 546 68 83 e-Mail: beat.oertli(at)hesge.ch http://hepia.hesge.ch/

Disciplines:


general biology
ecology
environmental sciences
hydrology, limnology, glaciology
climatology, atmospheric physics, aeronomy

Keywords:
Biodiversity conservation

Abstract:
Final Summary

The Macun cirque (Graubünden), annexed to the Swiss National park in 2001, is a high-apline site which is crossed by an important river system. He counts several streams and more than 35 temporary and permanent ponds. The high-alpine hydrosystems are recognized as being ecosystems sentinels, in particular to reveal and follow the impacts of climate change. That’s why a long-term monitoring of the site of Macun was established in 2002. The study led here brings the results of the first nine years of follow-up of ponds (2002-2010). The data show an important spatial heterogeneity inter-ponds, as much for the data physico-chemical as biological (composition of the aquatic macroinvertebrates communities). The temporal evolution of the various studied parameters (chemistry of the water, the temperatures and the composition of the communities of invertebrates) does not however show significant changes during studied period. Indeed, the parameters of chemistry of the water such as the conductivity, pH, quantity of nitrogen and phosphor do not show changes. From a biological point of view, the evolution of the specific richness shows a low variability between years but no significant evolution. Furthermore, the study of the invertebrates communities composition shows an absence of colonization by new taxa. The isolated geographical situation of the Macun cirque and the rarity of ponds relay around the site represent an obstacle to the migration and therefore, induced credibly a rather slow colonization by new species which come from lower height. We needed several years before to light the biological changes in the current context of global warming.

Leading questions:
Initial Concept

The ponds can be considered as ideal early warning systems. Indeed, thanks to their small size, their simple community structure and their high sensitivity to climate warming, the alpine ponds are real indicators of global change. The high-alpine Macun cirque, situated at above 2660 m, is a site composed of a stream network and more than 35 temporary and permanent ponds. In a context of global warming, a biomonitoring was set up in 2002 to be able to follow the evolution of biotic and abiotic parameters of this kind of environment. The selected ponds (Hinden, 2004; Stoll, 2005) are sampled every two years for 3 of them; every four years for 2 of them; an additional sampling of all ponds must be realized every twelve years. The fauna and flora are sampled according to an adaptation of the PLOCH method (Oertli et al, 2005). Other physico-chemical parameters are measured to complete the results (including continuous measures of the water temperature). At first, the purpose of this master thesis is to organize the 2002-2010 measurements (invertebrates and physico-chemical parameters) into an ACCESS database. The second part consists to confront the biological and physico-chemical parameters to understand the functioning of these ecosystems and also to see if there are modifications of the structure of macroinvertebrates communities in time. Moreover, the obtained results will allow to assess the strategy of the first 8 years of monitoring and, if need be, an improvement of this method for the continuation of this study.

Le travail de diplôme proposé ici projette de réaliser un bilan des huit premières années du monitoring des étangs de Macun et d’évaluer les changements dans la biodiversité aquatique en relation avec le réchauffement climatique. Il s'agira : (i) de synthétiser les données biologiques (macroinvertébrés aquatiques) et physico-chimiques (t°, chimie de l’eau) récoltées depuis 2002 (réalisation d’une base ACCESS) et (ii) d’explorer et d’analyser les relations entre les paramètres physiques (notamment la température) et les paramètres biologiques (diversité des espèces, composition des communautés). Ces deux étapes permettront également l’évaluation de la stratégie du monitoring mise en place et pourront conduire à des propositions théoriques et pratiques pour les années futures. De plus, il sera possible de participer à l’échantillonnage 2011 du monitoring (échantillonnage des macroinvertébrés, mesures physico-chimiques ; fin juillet ou début août 2011).

Publications:
Dalmard A-C 2011: Bilan des 8 premières années du monitoring des étangs de Macun (Parc National Suisse): évolution de la biodiversité aquatique et relation avec le réchauffement climatique. HEPIA Lullier (Betreuung: B. Oertli)

Last update: 1/31/14
Source of data: ProClim- Research InfoSystem (1993-2024)
Update the data of project: CH-4418

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