An evaluation of freshwater monitoring programs in ILTER nodes and mountain national parks: identifying key variables to monitor global change effects

Acknowledgements This study was funded by the European Commission, under the LIFE Nature and Biodiversity program, as part of the project LIFE-DIVAQUA (Proyecto LIFE18 NAT/ES/000121). We also like to thank all the Spanish government agencies and research institutions who provided information, answered the questionnaires and participated in the workshop “Synthesis of the monitoring programs of global change in aquatic ecosystems SMNP: Autonomous Organism of National Parks, MAPAMA-Dir. Gral. Agua, Universidad de Granada, Instituto Universitario de Investigación del Agua, (IdeA-UGR), Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, CISE-P.N. Sierra de Guadarrama, Fundación Biodiversidad, CEAB-CSIC, IGME, MNCN-CSIC, Universidad de Córdoba, Universidad de Barcelona and ICTA-UAB. We also like to thank the 28 European Nation Parks who responded our query. The authors finally thank the support provided by Christoph Wohner in the use of the DEIMS-SDR.
Electronic supplementary material The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-022-02466-x.
Data Availability The datasets used to review the monitoring programs at the Global scale conducted in the ILTER nodes that are included in Rivers (ILTER-Rivers) or Lakes (ILTER-Lakes) are available at the DEIMS dataset registry (DEIMS-SDR) (for more details see: Wohner et al. 2019; https://deims.org/). The datasets used to review the monitoring programs at the European scale conducted in the EMNP are available by requesting them via email to the corresponding EMNP. The datasets used to review the monitoring programs at the National scale conducted in the five SMNP are mostly included in this article and it supplementary information file. In addition, meteorological data recorded by the Spanish Global Change Monitoring Network in available at the Meteorological data download web application (https://www.miteco.gob.es/es/redparques- nacionales/red-seguimiento/acceso-datos.aspx). Further and more detailed information is available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Funding This study was carried out with the financial support of the EU LIFE programme, as part of the project LIFE-DIVAQUA (Proyecto LIFE18 NAT/ES/000121). The information showed in this publication only reflects the point of view of the authors. The European Comission and CINEA cannot be held responsible for any use which be made of the information contained here. Open Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature.
Identifying and quantifying global change impacts on biotic and abiotic components of ecosystems is critical to promote an effective adaptation that increases the success of conservation strategies. To achieve this goal, global and regional assessment efforts require certain degree of harmonization on local monitoring programs to establish relevant comparisons at different spatio-temporal scales. Otherwise, the lack of harmonization might hinder the detection and assessment on the effects of human impacts. In this work we have compiled information on freshwater monitoring programs located in areas of intensive research and conservation interest: International Long Term Ecological Research (ILTER) nodes and mountain National Parks. We aimed at evaluating the quality and robustness of these programs to assess the impact of global change, addressing from the worldwide to the European and Spanish national scale. Results highlighted that freshwater monitoring programs lack a common strategy to monitor these ecosystems. Even at the continental and national scales, contrasting strategies and level of detail have been historically applied. Water quality, habitat and biodiversity are more commonly monitored than community structure and ecosystem functioning. Monitoring efforts on the Spanish Mountain National parks indicated differences on the targeted aquatic ecosystems. Rivers and lakes received a higher attention, while mires were rarely considered. Our results provide evidence that greater efforts should be directed towards constructing a coordinated strategy to monitor freshwater ecosystems at national, continental, and global scales. This strategy should involve a shared backbone of biophysical and biogeochemical variables for each habitat type on agreed protocols that are implemented across regions and administrative borders. Achieving this will support a substantial advance on the ecological research to further delineate proper conservation strategies to face the challenges imposed by global change.
European Commission LIFE18 NAT/ES/000121