Unlocking our understanding of intermittent rivers and ephemeral streams with genomic tools

Blackman, RC, Altermatt, F, Foulquier, A, Lefébure, T, Gauthier, M, Bouchez, A, Stubbington, R ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8475-5109, Weigand, AM, Leese, F and Datry, T, 2021. Unlocking our understanding of intermittent rivers and ephemeral streams with genomic tools. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. ISSN 1540-9295

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Abstract

Intermittent rivers and ephemeral streams (IRES) – waterways in which flow ceases periodically or that dry completely – are found worldwide, and their frequency and extent are expected to increase in the future in response to global climate change and growing anthropogenic demand for fresh water. Repeated wet–dry cycles generate highly dynamic settings within river networks composed of aquatic and terrestrial habitats, which act as evolutionary triggers for aquatic and terrestrial biota. Drying also alters functions and processes within river networks, with consequences for ecosystem services. Despite the emergence of promising conceptual and methodological developments, our understanding of the occurrence and diversity of organisms in these ecosystems is limited primarily due to their coupled aquatic–terrestrial characteristics. Novel genomic tools based on high-throughput sequencing have the potential to tackle unanswered questions of pivotal importance to predict future change in IRES. Here, we outline why genomic tools are needed to assess these dynamic ecosystems from the population to the metacommunity scale, and their potential role in bridging ecological–evolutionary dynamics.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment
Creators:	Blackman, R.C., Altermatt, F., Foulquier, A., Lefébure, T., Gauthier, M., Bouchez, A., Stubbington, R., Weigand, A.M., Leese, F. and Datry, T.
Publisher:	Wiley
Date:	9 September 2021
ISSN:	1540-9295
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1002/fee.2404 DOI 1470679 Other
Rights:	© 2021 The Authors. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of the Ecological Society of America. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Divisions:	Schools > School of Science and Technology
Record created by:	Lee Houghton
Date Added:	14 Sep 2021 16:37
Last Modified:	14 Sep 2021 16:37
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/44170

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