Shrinking glaciers drive the reorganisation of river food webs

Shrinking glaciers drive the reorganisation of river food webs | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Biological Sciences - Article Shrinking glaciers drive the reorganisation of river food webs Lee Brown, Sarah Fell, Jonathan Carrivick, Guy Woodward, Nicky Kerr, and 13 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8875410/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Glaciers cover ~10% of Earth’s land surface, and their meltwater rivers are home to diverse biological communities that play central roles maintaining water quality, supporting fisheries, and subsidising the diet of terrestrial birds and mammals1,2. However, current unprecedented rates of glacier shrinkage3 are expected to cause major changes to algae and invertebrate biodiversity in rivers worldwide with largely unknown consequences4,5. Whilst knowledge of co-dependencies among biological groups is critical for predicting biodiversity change and driving conservation actions6, the intricate species-interactions shaping glacial-river food webs remain poorly understood4. Here we use >3500 newly observed feeding interactions among diatoms and invertebrates from rivers in the European Alps to demonstrate how decreasing glacier influence leads to increases in food web size as habitats become warmer, more stable, and less turbid. These responses are consistent with mountain-river biomonitoring observations from a new global meta-analysis of >190 studies. With decreasing glacier influence, diatoms became more species-rich and abundant both in real terms and relative to invertebrate consumers, and mean trophic level declined implying more efficient primary production transfer to consumers. We show this reorganisation is predictable from constituent species’ body mass and abundance, allowing projections to be made for rivers where species interactions remain unstudied. By demonstrating predictable links between species composition, traits, food web structure, and shrinking glaciers, this study significantly advances our ability to forecast ecological responses in rapidly changing mountain environments. Biological sciences/Ecology/Freshwater ecology Biological sciences/Ecology/Ecological networks Earth and environmental sciences/Ecology/Biodiversity Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental sciences Biological sciences/Ecology/Climate-change ecology Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files Brownetalsupplementary.docx Supplementary Information Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8875410","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Biological Sciences - Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":595572454,"identity":"82ba834c-9ce9-4595-a8e9-8f2d977b36e4","order_by":0,"name":"Lee 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