Late greenhouse gas mitigation has heterogeneous effects on European caddisfly diversity patterns

Abstract

Little remains known about how the timing of mitigation of current greenhouse gas emissions will influence freshwater biodiversity patterns. Using three general circulation models, we evaluate the response of 260 broad-ranging European caddisfly species to climate conditions in 2080 under two scenarios: business as usual (A2A) and mitigation (A1B). If implemented effectively, recent government commitments established under COP21, to mitigate current greenhouse gas emissions, would result in future climatic conditions similar to the mitigation scenario we explored. Under the Cgcm circulation model, which we found to be the most conservative model, suitable environmental conditions were predicted to shift 3{degrees} more to the east under the mitigation scenario compared to business as usual. The majority of broad-ranging European caddisfly species will benefit from mitigation, but 5 to 15% of species that we evaluated will be bigger losers under the mitigation scenario compared to business as usual. Under the mitigation scenario, caddisfly species that will retain less of their current range and experience lower predicted range expansion are those that currently have relatively limited distributions. Continental-scale assessments such as the ones that we present are needed to identify species at greatest risk of range loss under changing climatic conditions.