Abstract
Rapid recession of glaciers and snowfields is threatening the habitats of cold-water biodiversity worldwide. In many ice-sourced headwaters of western North America, stoneflies in the genus Lednia (Plecoptera: Nemouridae) are a prominent member of the invertebrate community. With a broad distribution in mountain streams and close ties to declining glacier cover, Lednia has emerged as a sentinel of climate change threats to high-elevation aquatic biodiversity. Lednia tumana, which is endemic to Glacier National Park, USA and the surrounding mountains, is the most well-studied species in the genus and in 2019 became federally protected under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) due to climate-induced loss of meltwater habitats. Three other Lednia species have also been described, and like L. tumana, each is endemic to a mountain region of western North America: Lednia sierra in the Sierra Nevada, Lednia borealis in the Cascade Range, and Lednia tetonica in the Teton Range. In this review, we provide a comprehensive overview of Lednia ecology, genetics, and physiology, with an emphasis on the conservation outlook for the group and species with similar headwater distributions. We highlight substantial progress made in the last decade to better understand the ecology and evolution of Lednia, including the identification of 140 Lednia-containing streams (an increase from 12 streams in 2010), and a more complete understanding of the degree to which warming streams may imperil species in the genus. In light of the ESA listing of L. tumana, we show that similar conservation threats likely face all extant Lednia species. However, substantial gaps in our knowledge remain, primarily centering around their distributions (and the potential for as yet undescribed species), life history, ecophysiology, and trophic ecology. We conclude by describing pressing questions for Lednia that when addressed will expand knowledge of the genus and its conservation as well as broader understanding of climate risks to mountain stream biodiversity worldwide.
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source across Lednia species. Complete methods and results for these figures are provided in Supporting Information and Tables S2–S3, respectively. Approximate treeline in (a) was visually estimated using Google Earth imagery
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Acknowledgements
Many agencies, institutions, individuals, and funders have contributed to our knowledge of the Lednia genus. We would like to specifically acknowledge Liana Agrios, Michele Blackburn, Richard Baumann, Jackson Birrell, Ronald Call, Vincent D’Angelo, Cayley Faurot-Daniels, Taylor Cotten, Michael Dillon, Todd Folsom, Leslie Jones, Steve Jordan, Andrew Lamont, Rich Lechleitner, Jon Lee, Gordon Luikart, Richard Martinez, Brady Miller, Jose Moreno, Taylor Price, Larry Serpa, Derek Stinson, Cyrus Tosco, David Weisrock, Bob Wisseman, Sarina Jepsen, and Lydia Zeglin for their contributions. We would also like to thank park permitting staff in Glacier, Grand Teton, Kings Canyon, Mount Rainier, North Cascades, Sequoia, and Yosemite National Parks; Gifford Pinchot, Inyo, Okanogan-Wenatchee, and Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forests; and State Fish and Wildlife Services (California Department of Fish and Wildlife and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife) for their support. This research was funded by University of Wyoming-National Park Service research grants and the U.S. Geological Survey’s Ecosystems Mission Area. S.H. was supported by NSF award OPP-1906015. Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.
Funding
This research was funded by University of Wyoming-National Park Service research grants and the U.S. Geological Survey’s Ecosystems Mission Area. S.H. was supported by NSF award OPP-1906015.
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M.D.G. and S.H. conceived of the review and wrote the manuscript. All authors made substantial intellectual contributions to the text and approved the article for submission.
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Green, M.D., Tronstad, L.M., Giersch, J.J. et al. Stoneflies in the genus Lednia (Plecoptera: Nemouridae): sentinels of climate change impacts on mountain stream biodiversity. Biodivers Conserv 31, 353–377 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-021-02344-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-021-02344-y