Drying alters regional metacommunity processes-but not local ones-across drying river networks of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau area, China.

Drying alters regional metacommunity processes-but not local ones-across drying river networks of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau area, China. | Authorea try { document.documentElement.classList.add('js'); } catch (e) { } var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'G-8VDV14Y67G']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })(); Skip to main content Preprints Collections Wiley Open Research IET Open Research Ecological Society of Japan All Collections About About Authorea FAQs Contact Us Quick Search anywhere Search for preprint articles, keywords, etc. Search Search ADVANCED SEARCH SCROLL This is a preprint and has not been peer reviewed. Data may be preliminary. 12 January 2026 V1 Latest version Share on Drying alters regional metacommunity processes-but not local ones-across drying river networks of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau area, China. Authors : Fei Zhang 0009-0005-9976-7395 , Thibault Datry 0000-0003-1390-6736 , Kun Zhang , Peng Zheng , Jiangping Mao , and Xiaoming Jiang [email protected] Authors Info & Affiliations https://doi.org/10.22541/au.176824832.29968426/v1 136 views 67 downloads Contents Abstract Supplementary Material Information & Authors Metrics & Citations View Options References Figures Tables Media Share Abstract With climate change, the increasing frequency of extreme hydrological events leads to shifts from perennial rivers and streams (PRs), which flow all year round, to non-perennial rivers and streams (NPRs), which dry up or cease flow on an annual basis. Understanding current biodiversity patterns and the underlying drivers of in NPRs is therefore needed to anticipate the future of riverine biodiversity. However, if NPRs research has gained a lot of attention in the past decade, empirical evidence from high-altitude regions, where NPRs are widespread such as Asia, remains extremely scarce. In such context, the prevailing environmental harshness could mitigate the reported major effects of drying on biological communities from temperate and Mediterranean regions. In this study, we quantified the taxonomic and functional alpha and beta diversity of macroinvertebrates communities across 62 sites spanning PRs and NPRs in the Qinghai Lake Basin, a high-altitude dryland region from the Tibetan Plateau. As expected, our results showed that alpha diversity did not differ between PRs and NPRs, probably due to co-tolerance of organisms to multiple environmental stressors such as flooding, scouring, extreme temperatures and drying. In contrast, beta diversity was higher in NPRs compared to PRs and was best explained by environmental variables (environmental filtering), while spatial variables (e.g., dispersal limitation) dominated in PRs, contrary to what we expected. Altogether, our results suggest that in high-altitude regions prone to environmental harshness and multiple disturbance regimes, river drying does not cause local species loss, but promotes community reorganization by shifting the balance between stochastic (dispersal limitation) and deterministic (environmental filtering) processes. These findings provide the first evidence of the limited effects of drying from the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau building on recent findings demonstrating the context-dependence of drying effects on riverine biodiversity, offering valuable insights for conservation and management efforts in these unique regions. Supplementary Material File (main document.docx) Download 10.45 MB Information & Authors Information Version history V1 Version 1 12 January 2026 Copyright This work is licensed under a Non Exclusive No Reuse License. Keywords alpha diversity beta diversity functional diversity metacommunities non-perennial streams qinghai lake basin Authors Affiliations Fei Zhang 0009-0005-9976-7395 Xi’an University of Technology National Key Laboratory of Ecological Water Conservancy in Northwest Arid Areas View all articles by this author Thibault Datry 0000-0003-1390-6736 INRAE View all articles by this author Kun Zhang Xi’an University of Technology National Key Laboratory of Ecological Water Conservancy in Northwest Arid Areas View all articles by this author Peng Zheng Xi’an University of Technology National Key Laboratory of Ecological Water Conservancy in Northwest Arid Areas View all articles by this author Jiangping Mao Xi’an University of Technology National Key Laboratory of Ecological Water Conservancy in Northwest Arid Areas View all articles by this author Xiaoming Jiang [email protected] Xi’an University of Technology National Key Laboratory of Ecological Water Conservancy in Northwest Arid Areas View all articles by this author Metrics & Citations Metrics Article Usage 136 views 67 downloads .FvxKWukQNSOunydq8rnd { width: 100px; } Citations Download citation Fei Zhang, Thibault Datry, Kun Zhang, et al. Drying alters regional metacommunity processes-but not local ones-across drying river networks of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau area, China.. Authorea . 12 January 2026. DOI: https://doi.org/10.22541/au.176824832.29968426/v1 If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download. For more information or tips please see 'Downloading to a citation manager' in the Help menu . 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